Eight-year-old girl meets first responders who saved her life



DELAFIELD (WITI) -- An eight-year-old girl whose survival after a car accident defied the odds -- on Saturday, April 5th had the opportunity to meet with first responders and others who helped to save her life.

It happened on a gloomy autumn day in September.

Lake Country Fire & Rescue was dispatched for a motor vehicle crash with two possible fatalities.

Upon arriving on scene, emergency crews found two vehicles with major damage.

Inside one of them was eight-year-old Amy Rindt -- lifeless in her booster seat with her head slumped down and her skin ashen/blue.

Emergency crews immediately extricated her from the car and carried her lifeless body to the ambulance where CPR was initiated.

A tube was inserted into Rindt's lungs to breathe for her, and crews started IV fluids and medications to help jump start her heart.

Against all odds, Rindt regained a pulse and Flight for Life stepped in to fly her to Children's Hospital.

Officials say Rindt suffered severe neck injuries -- the kind that are "almost always fatal."

In fact, officials say resuscitation of any patient who does not have a pulse is only 20-25% -- but when the cardiac arrest is the result of a traumatic injury, the resuscitation rate is a dismal 4%.

Since the incident, Rindt has had 14 medical procedures.

Somehow, Rindt has beaten all odds and is now recovering at home with her family and has even returned to school!

Officials consider Rindt's case an incredible story of survival -- and a reminder to emergency crews of what is possible.

Rindt's grandmother says the fact that she's doing so well is simply a miracle -- and first responders agree.

"It just kind of solidifies what you do. You get up, you go to work and you take care of people and go home. And then you see, yeah, I actually did make a difference," John Emerson with Flight for Life said.