March 11, 2015 11:09 PM EDT
The family members of an 18-month infant, plucked from a crash in a Utah river that took her mother’s life, celebrated the toddler’s “miracle” survival after her release from the hospital Wednesday.
Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck, 25, crashed into a bridge and died Friday evening after her car slipped into Utah’s Spanish Fork River. But 12 hours later, a firefighter discovered her daughter Lily upside down, strapped inside a baby seat, in a vehicle partly inundated with water. The infant was transported to Salt Lake City’s Primary Children’s Hospital for medical treatment and made a swift recovery by Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s a miracle. The doctors say it’s a miracle,” said Lily’s father Devin Trafny. “I’m blessed. I’m counting all my blessings.”
“I am grateful for my daughter’s life, and I want to thank everyone who helped her in this difficult experience, the doctors and staff at the hospital and the rescue teams. She is alive today because of all of you,” Trafny added. “Now we will focus on rebuilding our lives after the loss of Lily’s mother, Jenny.”
No clear cause for the crash has been established, but local police say Groesbeck suffered “massive trauma” upon impact and died immediately.
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