A trucking couple on their way to a Texas beach for a Valentine’s trip says they are “lucky to be alive” after losing control on the icy highway on February 10th.
Kylee Dutch and Josh Fisher were heading to Galveston, Texas in their semi truck in celebration of their new trucking company and Valentine’s day when their trip took an unexpected turn. Accompanied by their five-year-old daughter, their unborn child, and their dog, Cooper, the couple was looking to flee the Kansas cold but soon encountered some unexpected winter weather on their trip, and that’s when things got scary.
The family was traveling along Interstate 69 near Chouteau, Oklahoma when their rig started sliding on ice, causing their life to flash before their eyes.
“The storm we were going away from is the one that came down a couple days later,” Fisher explained to NewsOn6.
“We were sliding completely sideways, the truck slowly drifts over across the median, and that’s when the other [semi] truck came,” Fisher said. “It was just slow-mo,” he explained, describing the semi truck crashing into the passenger side of their truck.
“I saw the truck coming toward me, and next thing I know, I heard Josh yelling at me, Sam screaming, Cooper barking,” Dutch said.
Dutch was pinned inside of the cab as a result of the crash, but Fisher was able to free himself and pull their daughter and dog from the wreckage.
“I did not expect to be alive,” Dutch said, “and I didn’t expect my babies to be alive.”
Dutch’s unborn baby is expected to be fine, but Dutch has a long road of physical therapy ahead of her as she nurses broken bones, which render half of her body nearly useless.
Luckily, Fisher and their young daughter suffered only scratches and bruises, but their dog ran off in the confusion of the wreck. The family says they never expected to see Cooper again, but after eight days, someone found Cooper and took him in, and he has since been reunited with his family thanks to the help of Facebook.
“I thought he had died,” Dutch said. “It was a big wreck and I’m so injured there’s no way he didn’t get run over. I was just so excited [he was found alive].”
The driver of the other truck refused medical treatment, and no tickets were issued in the accident.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family recover. You can visit the page here, or donate to the following address:
The Kylee Dutch family fund
c/o The Topeka Church of the Brethren
P.O. Box 8598
Topeka, KS 66608