QUEMAHONING TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Stoystown woman kept herself alive for nine hours after the vehicle she was operating slid off the roadway and tumbled down a steep embankment.

Stacey Gryskiewicz was found by a hunter at approximately 6:15 a.m. Saturday in Somerset County.

Gryskiewicz was traveling north on Mostoller Road south of Stoystown at about 9 p.m. Friday when she swerved to avoid striking a deer. A Pennsylvania State Police report indicated the thoroughfare is “a narrow, unmarked roadway” and the driver’s 1998 Ford Explorer slid off the road and down an embankment.

The vehicle flipped back onto its tires and then slid further down the embankment into a creek.

Police said Gryskiewicz was stuck in the vehicle but was able to keep the vehicle running, turned up the heat and covered herself with a blanket.

A state trooper said the victim had trouble breathing and suffered “large lacerations under her chin and across her forehead and possibly a broken jaw.” She was transported to Conemaugh Hospital for medical treatment.

Authorities were assisted by Herring Motors, which removed the vehicle, called a complete loss, located some 100 feet from the roadway.