An Idaho teenager survived a horrific car crash that saw her catapulted into the air and hanging on a power line by her broken leg for over an hour as she waited for help.
Kennedy Littledike, 19, crashed her car on May 22, 2021 when she became emotional behind the wheel while going through a breakup.
The teen, who was 16 years old at the time, was driving back from watching the sunset with two friends when she began crying and veered off the road.
‘I overcorrected too far, and I went off the road on the right side. My side of the vehicle hit the power pole, and we started flipping and rolling,’ Littledike told Inside Edition.
‘We didn’t have our seat belts. So when we were flipping, and I was the first one out, I wasn’t on the ground. I was actually hanging in the power line by my broken leg.’
Kennedy Littledike, 19, survived a horrific car crash after she was ejected dozens of feet into the air and caught on a power line, where she hung by her broken leg for over an hour
The Idaho teen ultimately lost her leg in the crash but says landing on the power line saved her life, as the electricity cauterized a torn artery and stopped her from bleeding it out
Littledike and her two friends, Nakia Molina and Jacob Rasmussen, suffered serious injuries in the rollover crash as all three were ejected from the car
Littledike and her two friends, Nakia Molina and Jacob Rasmussen, suffered serious injuries in the rollover crash that saw all three of them ejected from the car.
Molina was knocked unconscious and Rasmussen was bleeding heavily when neighbors and family members found him.
While both of the teens suffered shattered vertebrae and broken bones, among other injuries, they later made a full recovery.
Littledike was ejected 30 feet in the air, but the way she landed on the power line ended up saving her life.
‘In the process of getting thrown, my arm was actually torn off, was hanging on by the skin on my back, and then my femur was snapped over the wire and hanging in front of my face,’ Littledike said.
‘A lot of people ask, “How did you not bleed out?” Well, the main artery in my leg was pinched off by the power line, and then the main artery in my arm was actually cauterized when I got electrocuted.’
She continued, ‘I remember I was drowning in my blood because it was running from my leg, it was running from my arm, and it was going in my nose, and I was just wiping it out because it was literally drowning me.’
Littledike needed 21 surgeries to treat a broken femur, humerus and clavicle as well as a brachial plexus injury.
Littledike needed 21 surgeries to treat a broken femur, humerus and clavicle as well as a brachial plexus injury
She underwent five amputations as doctors desperately tried to save as much of her leg as possible
‘I don’t know what happened to me in the hospital, but I just had such a smooth transfer from such a bad mental health state to such a positive one,’ the 19-year-old said
Littledike has since built a presence on social media, sharing her story and finding humor in the situation
‘(A first responder) just grabbed my leg and had to take it out of the wire, and you just watch my body lifelessly fall on the stretcher,’ she said.
‘They put the tourniquet on and had to take my bone back off the wire. And they said I screamed. And then, once I hit the stretcher, it was silent.
‘I had a total of five amputations because they tried to save as much as possible because the more leg that you have for a prosthetic leg to walk, the easier it is,’ Littledike explained.
‘So they tried taking it at my knee, through my knee. My leg just kept rotting because the bone was broken so high up. Every other day, they were going in and taking more leg. And to go under surgery, over and over and over, to get more and more leg cut off. They’d finally just cut it off at the bone.’
The teen recalled the moment her father told her she lost her leg, saying the room ‘felt heavy.’
‘I was like, “Did either of my friends lose a limb?” And he said, “No.” And I said, “Well, I’m glad I’m the one that lost it since I was driving,”‘ Littledike remembered.
‘In that moment, you’re 16 years old. All your dreams that you had in your head, they’re all gone.’
‘Within 20 minutes, I was fine with it. I literally named it. I named my nub Gobi, and I made a whole dance for it. I don’t know what happened to me in the hospital, but I just had such a smooth transfer from such a bad mental health state to such a positive one.’
Since her crash, Littledike has built a social media presence by sharing her story and finding humor in the situation.
‘Before my accident, I struggled with mental health. I wanted to commit suicide. I did not ever really plan my future because I didn’t think there was going to be one. I wasn’t happy,’ she said.
‘I look back and I’m like, “Wow, you’re pathetic.” But because now, look at me. I’m in a whole different, harder situation, but I’m so much happier.’