Santee resident Katie Malone went to Mexico to celebrate her 29th birthday by parasailing in Puerto Vallarta when her vacation turned into a nightmare.
Katie was in the air being towed behind a boat when she noticed that the boat was going an entirely different direction than she was going. The parachute line broke and she was in the air for 45 minutes before she crashed in an airport next to an alligator pond (according to her GoFundMe page).
Katie suffered many injuries including a fractured pelvis, broken jaw, skull, 4 broken ribs, a collapsed lung and many facial injuries according to her goFundMe page.
She was immediately taken to an ICU in Mexico, but because of the major head trauma she needed to get treatment in the United States as soon as possible.
"The doctor was telling us down there, 'hey, we need to get her out and get her to a hospital here,'" Kelly said.
“Once we got the congressman involved, everything just went real smooth. He had some contacts. I believe he even contacted the consulate in Washington, D.C. and then after that everything just went really, super fast,” Kelley said.
Katie initially arrived at Brown Field, where she was then transferred to UC San Diego Medical Center.