A 58-year-old woman missing in the hills above Hau'ula since Thanksgiving Day was found alive yesterday in what one veteran police officer called a "modern-day miracle."

Barbara Whaley was discovered lying in a streambed nearly 600 feet below the Hau'ula Loop Trail about 12:15 p.m. She was weak, suffering from exposure, but alive.

Fire rescue personnel airlifted Whaley out of the stream and she was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in stable condition. She did not suffer any serious injuries, despite sliding down a 600-foot hillside and then dropping another 25 feet to the stream, said fire spokesman Capt. Kenison Tejada.

Officer Phil Camero of Honolulu police Missing Person's Detail credited the police and fire rescue crews with finding Whaley, who suffers from a heart condition, diabetes and other ailments. But Camero said they also had some help.

"It literally is a miracle that we found her alive," Camero said. "I know many of the rescue personnel. They work so hard and they give more than 100 percent, especially our fire rescue personnel. But it does take divine intervention sometimes to get a successful conclusion."

Whaley was last seen by her family about 10 a.m. Thanksgiving when she said she was going for a walk and to pray. About 45 minutes later, she used a cell phone to say she was on the loop trail and was going to take a nap.

That was the last anyone heard from her. Family and friends searched for Whaley and reported her missing last Friday.

A hiker told police he saw Whaley sleeping under a tree about 12:15 p.m. Friday, but she was gone by the time rescue crews got to that area. Bad weather hampered the search for Whaley over the weekend.

The weather improved dramatically yesterday and a team of fire and police rescuers noticed "something that was not quite ordinary" just off the trail, Tejada said.

"They could see that somebody had been there and sliding and they found a small prayer card, which they thought might be hers. A little bit further down they found some prescription medication," Tejada said.

The search was concentrated in that area and the police helicopter spotted Whaley as fire crews were rappelling the slope to investigate the skidmark.

"At first they said it kind of just looked like a log in the stream, but then she waved her arm and that got their attention," he said.

Camero said Whaley was too weak to cry for help. Tejada and Camero did not want to speculate how much longer Whaley could have survived.

"She had been exposed to the weather for five days so she wasn't in really good condition," Tejada said. "She was lying in the water when we got here, so she was very, very cold."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.