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Wed, Dec 14, 2005

Pregnant Woman Survives Chute Accident

"I Prepared For The Worst And I Got The Best"

To say that Shayna Richardson feels lucky to be alive would be an understatement -- times two.

The 21-year-old Arkansas woman started skydiving back in May, and was on her first solo jump two months ago when the unthinkable happened: her parachutes -- that's plural, both the main and the reserve -- failed to open fully. Her instructor caught the whole horrifying ordeal on tape as she spiraled to the ground, before landing face-down at 50 miles per hour in the airport parking lot.

"Several things flashed through my mind," said Richardson to CBS. "But of course, the first one is, you know, 'This is going to be a death. It's going to be a fatality. There is no fixing this.'"

"Right before I hit," she said, "I let go and I just, I told God, I said, 'Alright, I know I'm going home now. Just please don't make it hurt.'"

Amazingly, not only did she survive, but in the emergency room Richardson also learned she was pregnant -- and her unborn baby was doing fine.

"You can't imagine how blessed I feel," Richardson said. "To be alive, and then to have my baby be healthy is just more than I could ever have imagined or expected. I prepared for the worst and I got the best."

After receiving four operations to insert 15 plates in her face, as well as two breaks in her pelvis and a broken right fibula, Richardson is now making the rounds on the talk show circuit telling of her ordeal -- and baby, safe and sound, is due in June.

While she freely admits she never would have gone on the jump had she known she was pregnant, Richardson told another news program she does plan to jump again.

"You've got to do it once to understand" the appeal, Richardson told ABC.

FMI: www.uspa.org

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