Frozen 91-Year-Old Is Found Alive
Police sent to check on 91-year-old Victoria Moryn found a harrowing sight: The frail Polish immigrant was frozen in inch-thick ice on the floor of her unheated house. And she was alive.
When one officer touched her “she started moaning,” said neighbor Chris Staszkiewicz, who accompanied police. “He nearly jumped out of his skin.
“She was saying, ‘Oh God, Oh God’ in Polish. I believe that’s what pulled her through.”
The woman was kneeling, with her knees, toes and bare feet frozen to the floor. Police had to chip at the ice to free her, Sgt. Michael McMahon said. Water from broken pipes formed the ice.
Moryn was hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday with severe frostbite on her hands and feet, hypothermia and unstable blood pressure, officials said. Moryn lived alone in the duplex that she owns on the city’s near west side.
It was 10 degrees outside when she was found Monday.
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