Yoga teacher Amanda Eller after rescue from Hawaii forest: 'I chose life' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The woman who was rescued after going missing for more than two weeks in a forest in Hawaii said on Saturday that she had to choose between life and death in order to stay alive.

"There were times of total fear and loss and wanting to give up, and it did come down to life and death, and I had to choose," said Amanda Eller, 35, from her hospital bed, hours after rescuers in a helicopter plucked her from a ravine. "I chose life."

PHOTO: Hiker Amanda Eller was found after missing for 17 days, May 24, 2019, at Makawao Forest Reserve on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. (Courtesy Troy Helmer) More

Eller had been missing for 16 days when she was found in good condition on Friday at about 5 p.m. local time.

She thanked the Maui community, the volunteers who helped look for her and those who donated to help fund the search.

"People that know me, that don't know me, just under the idea of helping one person make it out of the woods alive just warms my heart," she said in a video posted on the Facebook page "Find Amanda," which was created after she went missing.

Eller is recovering from her ordeal "remarkably" with only a fracture on her leg and needs some treatments on her ankles, her mother, Julia Eller, told Fox affiliate KHON-TV.

"She had been working on herself — she's a physical therapist by training, so apparently those healing touches had done her well. And they said for what she had been through, she was in surprisingly good shape," Julia Eller said.

PHOTO: Hiker Amanda Eller was found after missing for 17 days, May 24, 2019, at Makawao Forest Reserve on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. (Courtesy Troy Helmer) More

"I'm just so incredibly grateful to have my girl home," the elder Eller said. "I never gave up hope for a minute. And even though at times, you know, I would have those moments of despair, I stayed strong for her because I knew we would find her."

PHOTO: A waterfall in the area where missing hiker Amanda Eller was found on May 24, 2019, in Makawao Forest Reserve on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. (Javier Cantellops via AFP/Getty Images) More

Eller, 35, disappeared after apparently going for a hike on May 8. Her boyfriend was the last person to see Eller, a yoga teacher and physical therapist, that morning, but when she did not return home he reported her missing to police the next day.

Eller's SUV was found Thursday, not long after she'd been reported missing, at the base of the Kahakapao Trail.

PHOTO: Hiker Amanda Eller was found after missing for 17 days, May 24, 2019, at Makawao Forest Reserve on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. (Courtesy Troy Helmer) More

Sarah Haynes, a friend who ran the Facebook page, told ABC News that Eller was located by a search helicopter Friday afternoon in a ravine near Twin Falls. Eller was able to flag down the helicopter, Haynes said.

(MORE: Missing Maui hiker's boyfriend believes she's still in dense forest)

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