An 82-year-old North Carolina woman is recovering after surviving nine days trapped in her own bathtub, an ordeal she says her faith carried her through. Joan Rivet fell into the tub in her Haywood County home on June 1, pulling down the shower curtain and rod with her. The fall injured her back badly enough that she couldn't climb out, and her phone was in another room.
"My first thought was, 'Oh my goodness, what did I do?'" Rivet told The Mountaineer. "Then already in my mind, I'm thinking I've got to figure out how to get out of this tub." For days, she tried everything she could think of to escape or call for help, drifting in and out of consciousness as time went on. Her cat, Phoebe, stayed near the bathroom door the entire time.
Rivet was found because her brother, Bill Lesko, who lives five hours away in Georgia, grew concerned after she didn't answer his regular weekly calls. He asked the Haywood County Sheriff's Office to check on her. Deputies found Rivet semiconscious on June 10 and rushed her to the hospital, where she was treated for severe dehydration, malnutrition, and bed sores after nine days without food.
"I hadn't given up," Rivet said. "I kept thinking, 'Lord, how do I get out of here? Show me how to get out here.'" Now recovering at a rehabilitation center, she says the experience only deepened her trust in God. "It's encouraged me to believe that God is greater than I thought He was," she said. "There's nothing my God can't do."
Rivet's neighbors have since committed to checking on one another more often, particularly those who live alone. Her longtime friend Pam Carter hopes the story encourages others to do the same. "It gives people hope that they can go through something like this and come out of it with a better outlook on life, a stronger faith," Carter said.
