Jessica Maroni along with her husband Dan and daughter Maria (GoFundMe)
A woman from Sonoma is lucky to be alive after a sleeper wave sent a massive driftwood tree crashing into her family along the Humboldt County coast. Jessica Maroni was on vacation with her husband Dan and infant daughter, 8-month-old Maria at The Lost Coast on December 27th. They were walking along the beach when a 2-story wave came hurtling towards them. They ran away from the wave but a 3,000-pound redwood tree carried by the wave headed straight for the family, knocking Dan over. It then rolled over Jessica and her baby. Jessica says she heard bones crushing and was terrified, thinking little Maria had been killed. The baby was miraculously safe, but Jessica’s pelvis had been crushed. She was airlifted first to Eureka, then taken to UC Davis Medical Center, due to the extent of her injuries.
Jessica and her family are now on the long road to recovery and a GoFundMe has been set up to help the family through the many months it will take for Jessica to heal and learn to walk again.