A schoolgirl suffered such serious injuries to her foot when she slipped under her father’s lawnmower that she had to have it amputated.
Jodie Sawyers was shopping at the mall last July when she received a phone call saying her seven-year-old daughter Ashtynn had been involved in a terrible accident.
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The 32-year-old woman rushed to a local hospital, where she found Ashtynn with serious injuries to her right foot.
The little girl was playing outside in a kiddie pool with her three siblings when she decided to run to her father, Wes Sawyers, who was mowing the front lawn with a ride-on mower.
Ashtynn was wet from playing in the water and slipped as she ran to her father, falling right under the blade of the lawn mower.
Shocked, Wes immediately grabbed his daughter from under the knives and rushed her to the nearest hospital.
Despite multiple surgeries to save Ashtynn’s right foot, doctors decided to amputate her due to the severe nature of her injuries.
Mother-of-four Jodie describes the incident as every parent’s worst nightmare and wants to raise awareness of the dangers of lawnmowers around children.
Jodie, who lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US, said: “I was at the mall getting my nails done and my husband decided to mow the lawn. The kids were playing outside in the front yard in our kiddie pool.
“Wes was mowing the side of the lawn when Ashtynn decided to run to her dad. She slipped and fell right under the blade of the lawn mower. She was only under it for a second.
“He grabbed her and threw her a little bit so that her injuries wouldn’t get worse. He tried to prevent her from getting hurt any more.
“When I was in the mall, I got a phone call. There had been an accident and they asked us to come to the hospital, but everything would be fine.”
Ashtynn remained in the hospital for six weeks as doctors tried to save her foot.
Ultimately, however, doctors decided to amputate the leg from the ankle down after several failed operations.
Jodie, who works in the family business, said: “The knife had completely severed the bottom of her right foot. The top looked quite normal but it was the heel and bottom that were broken.
“They tried to save her foot. At first they said it was saveable, that’s why she had so many surgeries and was in the hospital for so long, but in the end they couldn’t save her.
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“They don’t know why the surgery didn’t work. The flap surgery didn’t work, they took an artery from her left leg and attached it to the bottom of her foot.
“She asked if she was going to die, which was hard. It was horrible to see. You never want something like that to happen to your child.”
Ashtynn, now eight, was discharged from the hospital in a wheelchair before being fitted with a prosthetic foot.
MOST COMMON ACCIDENTS AT HOME
1. Scraped knee
2. Bruised knee
3. Bump to the head
4. Cut to the finger
5. Scraped arm
6. Bruised arm
7. Cut to the lip
8. Scratches
9. Getting stung
10. Sprained ankle
Jodie says her daughter has fully adapted to the new normal and she now wants to raise awareness about the dangers of lawn mowers.
Jodie said: “We were worried about how she would adjust to life with one foot and how other people would treat her.
“But she’s adapted to life wonderfully. She runs around everywhere. Her injury doesn’t slow her down in any way. Everyone treats her wonderfully.
“Wes definitely felt guilty about it and had a hard time dealing with it. We’re just glad the injuries weren’t worse.
“I was actually paranoid about lawn mowers before this. I never thought something like this would happen when they were just playing in the yard.
“One of our friends is mowing our lawn now and the kids all have to stay inside when it’s outside. That’s made us a lot more nervous.
“I always tell other parents to be careful. You always think it won’t happen to you. We’re so grateful it wasn’t worse – we were afraid we were going to lose her.”
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