Severe hypothermia happens when there is a quick and serious drop in body temperature, and this condition can be life-threatening to anyone. There have been cases of people who have experienced hypothermia and still come out alive and there are a lot of people who have lost their lives to it. When people survive hypothermia, they are often attributed to miracles or wonders but trust me when I say science has an explanation but not all is often understood outright.
I will be discussing the case of Jean Hilliard who stayed outside in the cold for over 6 hours and still survived. She wanted to go out to enjoy night life in their small town of Lengby, Minnesota in the year 1980. As at the time Jean was 19 years old and she was going to enjoy part of the holidays going out so on the 20th of December, 1980 she went to meet with some of her friends in the town and as at 12 midnight, the entire people outside in the area began to return home and she also did the same as she had to return to the home of her parents.
In the 1980s, Lengby was a home to 123 people so I can bet that they all knew themselves. When she left town to drive back to Lengby, she decided to take a shorter route so she could get home earlier since the temperatures was extremely cold at below 20oC. Going to the party, she only wore a jacket, a pant, and a cowboy boot, so she wasn't prepared for this type of weather. As she was going, she realized that the road became slippery as a result of the ice but was determined to get home.
The car began to slide and as she tried to stop the sliding, it looked like it was going to be an impossible task but then the car stopped as it became stuck in a ditch. She decided to get out of the car to find help. She intended to get too her friend's place whom they just had drinks together. She began the journey to friend's home but as much as she worked, she realized she wasn't reaching her destination. She continued to work in her simple clothes for over 2 miles and for about 1 hour before seeing Wally Nelson's house from a distance.
She did her best to walk as fast but tired as she can and soon she reached his doorstep but before she could ring the bell or call to him, she collapsed. Wally woke up the next morning being the 21st of December 1980 and looked outside his lawn only to discover a bump of snow in his lawn. When he went to take a closer look, he saw it was Jean on the floor iced and her eyes wide opened. He tried to drag her to the front of his apartment away from the snow but her body was already frozen.
He thought she was death but when he looked at her nose area, he saw bubbles so he believed she might still be alive so he requested the help of a guest in his house to help him put her into his car and straight they went to the hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital, the doctors tried to inject her so as to help revive and heat her up but the needles kept breaking, so they decided to heat her up using electric heating pads, so they can increase her body temperature.
When stats were taken, her pulse was faint at 12 beats per minute with her temperature measuring 88oF which is relatively low, about 10 degrees lower than the normal. The doctors had tried their best and still kept her to be heated but couldn't do anything for her. Her pastor was called to come pray for her as the doctors knew it was a 50/50 chance but about 12 noon, she woke up as though nothing had happened in the last few hours. She was stable, but the doctors were thinking of amputating her legs to prevent infection from frostbite but realized it wasn't necessary so she was asked to go home with no issues.
According to Dr. David Plummer who was a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Minnesota, during extreme cases of hypothermia, blood begins to slow down in movement in the vessels which leads to a reduced amount of oxygen consumed and the oxygen is used to keep the vital organs safe during the period. A sort of hibernation thing and goes on to say that the recovery of the person occurs just as the blood flow increases according to how the body warms up. According to Dr.David Plummer, you need to be warm and dead before you can be declared dead. When a person suffers from severe hypothermia, the inability for blood to be pumped as expected is one of the reasons for death from the cold being almost certain as our bodies would not get the required oxygen and nutrients but if there is a quick response, there might be a different result but cases like this isn't very common.
Post Reference
https://www.cdc.gov/winter-weather/prevention/index.html
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/25/jean-hilliard-northern-minnesota-frozen-survived
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/03/us/dakota-teen-ager-recovers-after-being-frozen-stiff.html
https://journal.medizzy.com/a-woman-famously-survived-being-frozen-solid-40-years-ago-explained/
https://www.dw.com/en/hypothermia-what-happens-when-your-body-freezes/a-63891663
Image Reference
Image 1 || Flickr || The Cabins at Yellowstone Club, with a light snow falling || Tom Erickson
Image 2 || Free Range Stock || Woman in Ice Cave
Image 3 || Free Malaysia Today || Rescued Malaysian climber in critical condition in Nepal**