Missing Teen On The Mend

18-year-old Gia Fuda survived on berries and creek water for nine days after becoming lost in the wilderness after her car ran out of gas. KING's Amy Moreno reports.

(KING/NBC News) A Washington state teen is on the mend after spending eight days lost in the wilderness.

Eighteen-year-old Gia Fuda was last seen on July 24 when she stopped to get a coffee. Her car was later found abandoned and out of gas near Stevens Pass. She told her parents she got out of her and took her cell phone to call for help, but got lost.

“There’s no reception up there, so she was going to get reception or help. She got down the road and got up into forest the trees, and the woods thinking she could get to a bridge and got turned around up there,” her father, Bob Fuda, explained.

Finally, after more than a week on her own, she was reunited with her family on Saturday.

“It was almost not real, we’re crying ‘Gia how are you doing?’ and she’s like ‘I’m fine.”.. I’m like are you kidding me?” her mother, Kristin Fuda, explained.

“She’s doing amazing, after eight days of no food, eating berries up there… she said she was eating berries. She’s an amazingly strong girl,” Bob said.

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