In 1999, while kayaking on a river in South America, Neal's kayak became wedged under a waterfall where she was submerged beneath the water for at least 15 minutes. Eventually, her legs broke (bending her knees in the opposite direction) in order to allow her body to exit the kayak. When she appeared bobbing in the water, her fellow boaters pulled her from the water and began to attempt to revive her. Their efforts resulted in sporadic breaths and further silence, until eventually she regained normal breathing and returned to them. At that point, two individuals (who were later unable to be identified or located) led the rescuers out of the terrain and to a road where an ambulance happened to be standing.