It's been a bittersweet Mother's Day for a Penticton, B.C. woman who survived seven weeks stranded inside a van in the remote mountains of Nevada.
Rita Chretien, 57, is spending Mother's Day with her family at a hospital in Idaho where she is recovering from seven weeks with little food and water. Hospital officials say she is "very upbeat" and doing well.
Her son, Raymond Chretien, says he and other family members are "rejoicing" for being able to spend Mother's Day with her.
But that joy is tempered as Rita Chretien's husband, Albert, 59, is still missing after leaving the van more than six weeks ago to try to find help.
"It's the biggest miracle we could ever ask for, and there's still one more to come in, so we're still praying for another one," Raymond Chretien said at a news conference at the hospital.
Chretien and her husband had been travelling from B.C. to Las Vegas when they found themselves on an old logging road and their van got stuck in mud. After several days, Albert Chretien took off on foot to try to find help.
Rita Chretien says she survived on melted snow, tiny amounts of trail mix, hard candy, beef jerky and prayer.
She managed to keep a small meal down overnight and is progressing at a rate doctors are happy with.
"We are very optimistic she will have a good recovery," Dr. James Westberry said.
"To survive so long with sub-optimal nutrition, well, let's just say it's understandable to call it a miracle."
Although she lost a considerable amount of weight, Raymond Chrétien said he thought his mother didn't look like she went through the ordeal she did.
"I wouldn't have known anything happened to her, it's beyond belief," he said.
The search continues for Albert, who set out on foot with little protection from the elements. The mountainous area where their van was found has faced weeks of snow, rain and chilly conditions.
"We are celebrating but we are praying for another miracle," Raymond Chrétien said.
Sheriff's deputies from Nevada and Idaho were back out searching the remote Nevada wilderness Sunday.
On Saturday, the deputies searched along the north border of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, but bad weather prevented them from using aircraft Saturday.
While it seems unlikely that Chretien will have survived all this time, sheriff's Det. James Carpenter said crews were not yet ready to turn the rescue mission into a recovery operation.
In an interview with CTV.ca Saturday, British Columbia RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said knowing the location of the couple's van will serve to focus this latest hunt.
"Owyhee County are coordinating a ground search effort this morning with resources on the ground," Moskaluk said.
"It's a totally different search than what we had weeks ago because we now have the vehicle," he said, describing how search teams accompanied by rescue dogs will use the van as the starting point to trace Albert Chretien's steps.
The couple left their home in Penticton, B.C., on March 19 to attend a trade show in Las Vegas. They had last been seen in surveillance video captured at a food mart in Baker City, Oregon. They apparently took a wrong turn sometime later and ended up stranded on the logging road.
The couple's family reported them missing on March 30, when they failed to return from their trip as planned.
