Jeanicia Moskaluk says her faith helped her through the 24 hours she spent lost in the bush in Watson Lake late last week.

“I did pray a lot while I was in that place,” she said over the phone this morning.

“I prayed and prayed. I called for help and prayed.”

Moskaluk, 64, went on a walk last Thursday evening when she and her daughter’s dog, Lucky, lost their way on the trails around Second Wye Lake.

Moskaluk, a diabetic with poor eyesight, quickly realized she was in trouble.

She couldn’t find the way home. Her body was growing weaker. Her vision blurred as she continued.

At one point, she told the Star, she fell into a swamp. She knows Lucky jumped in after her, but, even now, she said she doesn’t know how they got out.

She does know they kept moving and yelling for help until she started falling every time she tried to walk.

Eventually it got too dark to go on, so she and Lucky curled up together for a fitful night of sleep.

Moskaluk said she was cold and wet from the swamp, and a light rain kept conditions damp. Additionally, she said the blackflies and mosquitos were awful.

It was around 9 p.m. on Canada Day when she thought she heard a dog in the bushes and resumed her calls for help.

“Anybody!” she yelled. “Whoever you are, I’m looking for help! My life is in danger!”

She said the dog led two RCMP officers through the bush to her.

They were part of a search crew that included Watson Lake RCMP, Yukon Wildland Fire Management staff, Police Dog Services, Yukon Search and Rescue, and volunteers.

Sgt. Cam Lockwood, of the Watson Lake RCMP, said early this afternoon police received a call that she was missing at midnight Thursday.

He said the investigation was helped immensely the following evening, when a member of the Watson Lake community turned in a white shoe (belonging to Moskaluk) that had been found on a trail.

“It was fluke luck that the shoe was found,” Lockwood told the Star. “Before that, it was a needle in a haystack.”

He said the shoe gave officers confirmation that Moskaluk had been in that location.

“She’s a very lucky lady,” Lockwood said, adding that she was weak when they found her, and that the mosquitoes in the area were quite thick.

“She would have been getting chewed alive.”

Moskaluk said the officers gave her a candy bar and something to drink.

They then built a fire to warm her before transporting her via boat to an ambulance that took her to Watson Lake Community Hospital.

There, she was put on an IV.

She also had X-rays taken because one leg was numb, and her foot was swollen. She was released on Sunday and is recovering at home.

“I’m just relieved and feeling so much better,” she said.