One can wonder whether Joan Murray is fortunate or unlucky. Consider this: she survived a 4 km fall.However, she landed directly on the anthill and was bitten by toxic fire ants. Joan was a teller at Bank of America. She boarded the plane from which she would parachute on September 25, 1999. Joan’s main parachute did not open for unclear reasons, and the reserve parachute operated only at an altitude of 700 meters before collapsing.
The woman flew for more than 4 kilometers in free fall. So, what’s next… Joan’s fall speed was 130 kilometers per hour when she hit the ground. The unlucky woman landed on an anthill swarming with fire ants.Joan had been bitten over 200 times before doctors arrived to save her. Incredibly, her doctors (one of them wrote “miracle” on her card) believe the ant bites helped Joan survive by creating a large adrenaline rush that saved her heart from stopping.
The woman suffered several injuries. But she survived.She returned to work in a bank after leaving the hospital. After more than 20 reconstructive surgeries and innumerable physiotherapy sessions, Joan returned to work, life, and skydiving a few years later, making her 37th parachute jump in 2002 with her two daughters, Carmen and Arianna.