TAYMOUTH TOWNSHIP -- A teenage girl is recovering after falling through the ice in Taymouth Township Friday night.
14-year old Destiny Prasse was attending a birthday party for 13-year-old Melora Walton at 8317 Pettit Road. Melora, Destiny and others were playing in the backyard. At some point, Melora’s dogs ran out of the house and onto a frozen pond in the yard. Destiny chased after the dogs to save them.
“Next thing I turn around, and Destiny’s in the water, so then I was really freaking out,” Melora described. She said the water came up to Destiny’s chest, but Destiny couldn’t get out of the water on her own.
"Every time I tried to break the ice, I felt more and more pain and I knew I was scratching myself," said Prasse. Prasse has dark bruises and scratches on her arm, shoulders and stomach from her fall in the pond.
Melora’s mother, Melissa Walton, called 911 and firefighters from Bridgeport, Taymouth Township and Saginaw Co. Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene.
"I started to lose feelings in my hands and in my feet. It was really cold."
Destiny said she started to panick and hyperventilate but her friend Melora helped by talking to her and trying to calm her down.
Destiny was in the water for nearly 20 minutes before she was rescued. She said a rope was thrown to her and she pulled out of the water.
"It's amazing because it would have killed me," said Destiny's mother Tina Stellwag.
Destiny's body temperature was just 91 degrees when she was pulled out of the water. She said she was given bags of IV fluids and about 20 blankets to get her temperature back to normal.
Destiny was taken to Covenant HealthCare, where she’s expected to make a quick recovery.
