22-Year-Old North Texas Woman Survives Mt. Everest Avalanche
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UPDATE (April 27, 2015, 11:38am) -- The mother of 22-year-old Danielle Banks -- the woman trying to find her way home after surviving an earthquake triggered avalanche on Mount Everest in Nepal - tells CBS 11 that her daughter made it down to the bottom of the mountain and was taken by helicopter to the American Embassy in Nepal. The earliest her mother was able to book a flight home for her daughter is May 1.
ALLEN (CBSDFW.COM) - A 22-year-old North Texas woman is trying to find her way home after surviving an earthquake triggered avalanche on Mount Everest in Nepal.
Danielle Banks, an Allen High School graduate, sent a text message to her mother Sunday night telling her she was okay and would be taking off on an eleven hour hike to the bottom of the mountain. Two days ago Banks sent another text message to her worried mother. "It said 'Oh my God! I just experience an avalanche,'" Sharon Banks said reading her daughter's text message. "That was the last word I heard from her."
For two days the Hunt County mother was left wondering if her daughter had survived the avalanche. Sharon Banks said, "It's the worst feeling in the world." After graduating from Texas A&M in December, Danielle Banks set off on a personal crusade.
Her passion for helping woman and children took her to Nepal, while her adventurous side led her toward the top of Mount Everest. It was on her way up the mountain when a 7.9M earthquake triggered an avalanche.
Eight-thousand miles away in Hunt County, her mom could only watch the news and wait for the phone. "That's the thing," she explained. "When you are in the United States and you have a child that is hurt you can get to them. When they are in a foreign country, on Mount Everest, how do find them? How do you know they are alive?"
After two days of not hearing from her daughter, Sunday morning Banks received a text message. It was her daughter. She was safe. "I was so happy I just jumped out of bed," she said. Danielle Banks had made it to a village about half way down the mountain.
Sunday evening she began an eleven hour trek to the bottom. But even then, she still didn't yet have a way home. "I'll pay for a helicopter if they'll go and get here," said her mother, "But I have to wait for them to call me back and say 'okay'."
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