Relative of wreck survivors

Ledger photo / TARA JENNINGS Kathy Harris suffered extensive injuries in this head-on crash. Her granddaughter, who suffered less severe wounds, was pulled from the vehicle by witnesses. The daughter of a woman involved in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer Sunday said she saw the wrecked car and doesn't know how her mother and niece made it out alive.

"They were both very lucky, and the entire family thanks God every day for sparing them," Kathy Harris' daughter Misty Wright said Thursday. "He was truly there for them that night."

Harris, 47, of Union was flown to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center by Regional One following the 8:30 p.m. accident on Highway 18 near Thicketty Creek. She was transferred to Greenville Memorial, where she remains in the Intensive Care Unit.

She has no life-threatening injuries, but many broken bones, Wright said, including ribs, both arms and legs and a crushed knee and heel.

"The doctors are keeping her heavily sedated," Wright said. "She had one surgery Wednesday and will be having another Friday with many more to follow."

Harris was in the vehicle with her 2-year-old grandchild, who was released from the hospital Monday. She suffered a swollen eye and bruised face.

The miracle of Harris' survival and recovery is even more powerful. Harris' vehicle caught fire following the crash. The driver of the 18-wheeler used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames in the Nissan Altima.

Witnesses pulled the child from the car but Harris was trapped beneath the vehicle's dashboard. It took emergency workers 45 minutes to free Harris from the vehicle.

Medics from Upstate Carolina Medical Center responded along with the Corinth, Twin Rivers and Jonesville fire departments to the accident. The Gaffney Fire Department also assisted by setting up a landing zone for Regional One.