LEFT OUT IN THE COLD

I saw this story last night and am still shaking my head over it. So, it turns out; a 19-year-old college student tweeted "Yum Yum 10th shot of tequila" before she spent nine hours overnight passed out on a porch in northern Minnesota. Do you know what that means this time of year? That means she was left passed out overnight in frigid -17 degree weather! Who does that to someone? Doctors now fear that Alyssa Jo Lommel, a Duluth college student, might lose one of her hands or both due to frostbite. That is so screwed up! All because her friends left her on a porch rather than making sure she got into her house in one piece. 

Alyssa was wearing jeans, Ugg boots, a sweater and a light jacket, but she had no gloves on when a passerby found her around 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Her hands were three times its normal size and may have to be amputated due to the severe frostbite and hypothermic conditions she endured. According to police reports, the college sophomore was nearly frozen to death. Alyssa's mom says, "It's very much a wait-and-see thing at the moment. It's going to take some time to determine what's going to happen. We are hopeful that her body will heal itself. 

Police say that Alyssa was dropped off outside her home around midnight Friday after about six hours of drinking. Her friends told police that she wasn't falling down drunk when they dropped her off, but they did not see her enter her home. Why the hell not? Whenever I dropped off a drunk friend, I would make sure they were in their house safely before I drove off. Whatever happened behind the door after was their business. Whatever happens before they get into that door, I always felt was my responsibility and my duty as a friend. I have to say that Alyssa may have to reevaluate her friends. 

Tracks in the snow showed that Alyssa, rather than going into her house, went next door. She reportedly entered an unheated backyard garage before trying to enter a locked car. The report showed that she walked down a dead-end street before returning to her neighbor's house, climbed a railing and apparently passed out on the front steps. Now, show supposedly had keys to her own house. Her cell phone was found on the back steps of the neighbor’s home. Fire officials found the teen "stiff as a board and extremely cold" when they responded to the scene. In other words, she was a human Popsicle. The wind chill was reportedly -36 degrees that night.

I am still blown away that no one saw her sooner and that her friends actually just left her there. Then again, they were probably just as drunk as she was and didn't realize they were leaving her out in the frigid cold. Anyway you look at this, it just sucks. We can just hope that her body heals itself and that she will not lose her hands!