Mother lost in the wild uses unusual method to feed herself

Monday, May 11, 2015, 11:44 AM - A woman missing in a New Zealand park was found alive Monday, after taking unusual measures to keep her strength up.

Susan O'Brien, 29, went astray during a trail racing event in Rimutaka Forest Park near Wellington, and was lost in the wilderness for 24 hours before being rescued.

O'Brien, who has an eight-month-old daughter, said she drank some of her own breast milk to preserve her energy levels while she waited for rescue.

"I'm breast-feeding my baby so I had a bit of my milk, which I thought, that should help me keep going," she said, according to the Dominion Post.

Radio New Zealand says she also had two litres of water, an energy bar and gel packs. She kept warm during the frigid night by covering herself with dirt.

Drinking her own breast milk may seem drastic, but it's worth it to keep in mind she would have had no way of knowing how long it would be before rescue arrived.

She was one of several runners during Sunday's XTerra Wellington Trail Running Series in the park, and the search for her began after she failed to arrive at her destination on schedule.

Volunteers and search dogs scoured the track and surrounding countryside. O'Brien was spotted by a rescue helicopter around 11:30 a.m., which landed to take her aboard. She was reunited with her family, including her hungry daughter, soonafter.

"She was just standing on the edge of the bank waving at us," crewman Colin Larsen told the Dominion Post. "She obviously looked very relieved, she looked quite cold and tired but certainly very relieved to be taken back to her family."

SOURCE: Radio New Zealand | The Dominion Post