A Queensland mum has spoken out after her girl lost her hand on their ride-on lawnmower.
Two-year-old Lexi was on the mower with dad, Craig, 28, when a terrible accident left her with devastating injuries.
‘Sometimes we let the kids sit on our laps and ride down to the mailbox for fun,’ explains her mum, Janice Saker, 29.
On that fateful day, they were cleaning up the garden for their boy Joel’s fourth birthday party when Lexi begged to have a go on the mower.
‘So Craig stopped and Lexi jumped on,’ says Janice.
‘Sitting between his legs, she beamed while he remained at a standstill with the engine running. Then Craig asked me to take her so he could finish tidying up.’
As he inched closer to pass Lexi over, Craig suddenly hit a piece on concrete and their little girl went tumbling to the grass.
‘She put her left hand down – right into the spinning blades,’ explains Janice. ‘There was a sickening clunk and they churned through her flesh and my girl let out a blood-curdling scream.’
After stemming the flow of blood and calling Triple-0, Janice was left with the horrifying task of trying to find parts of Lexi’s hand that might be salvageable for medical staff to stitch back on.
‘There were pieces of seared flesh everywhere,’ says Janice. ‘I was completely traumatised.’
All the surgeons could do was use skin from Lexi’s thigh to seal the wound, leaving her with a stub where her hand once was.
But resilient Lexi adapted to her new life almost straight away.
‘As soon as she woke up from the operation, she wanted to get out of bed. It didn’t seem to phase her,’ says Janice.
Four months of from the accident, Lexi is doing well.
‘She can hold a drink between her stub and her arm,’ says Janice. ‘When she’s seven, doctors will let us know if a prosthetic hand is an option.’
Janice is sharing her story to warn other parents about letting kids go anywhere near ride-on mowers.
‘If we could tun back time, we’d lock the kids in the house while the mower was in use,’ she says.
For more real-life stories see issue 22 of that’s life! magazine Australia – out now!
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
