Woman who survived crash in Naples pays respect to her rescuers

NAPLES, Fla. —

When Kaitlin Kerrigan vacationed in Naples with her family two years ago, she had no idea it would leave her with scars today.

"I came down here to reset, and I reset in a very different way," Kerrigan said.

It happened one evening off Immokalee and Rabbit Run Road.

"I decided to go get dinner by myself," Kerrigan said. "I swerved into the other lane, swerved back, hit a sign, the car rolled over, and then it caught on fire."

Kerrigan managed to pull herself out of the car. When first responders found her, she was also on fire. Her body was left covered in burns.

"The pain was very hard. Any little movement just put me in this awful state of pain," Kerrigan said. "It was really hard to try to get up and be active and walk again. It was simple things like sit on the bed today, sit on the chair today."

Nearly two years of recovery and thirty surgeries later, Kerrigan is paying respect to the ones at North Collier Fire Rescue who made her recovery possible.

"Thank you is not enough," Kerrigan said. "To say I'm grateful, to say I'm appreciative, and I have so much respect for you all. I think you should all, every day, know you're heroes. Don't be humble about what you do. Go out and be proud."

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