A young Aussie has revealed how her lower leg had to be amputated following a horror gardening accident just one week after her wedding.
Megan McKee, 33, suffered catastrophic injuries after her foot was run over by a ride-on mower at her new home in Paxton, in NSW’s Hunter Region, last month.
Ms McKee and her wife Stephanie Pascoe, 31, had only purchased the home in the village of around 1,200 people six weeks earlier.
The newlywed had been mowing the nature strip in the front yard when the ride-on mower hit an embankment, causing it to become unsteady.
She recalled putting her foot on the grass, before the ride-on mower ran over it.
Ms Pascoe was playing with Ms McKee’s toddler Parker on the grass when she heard an ear-piercing scream, she told Yahoo News.
‘I left the child and ran. Her injuries were very apparent very quickly,’ she said.
‘I panicked. I didn’t really expect it to be the extent that it was.’
Ms Pascoe recalls the first thing her wife said to her was ‘I’m going to die’.
‘Looking at her injuries and the amount of blood that was coming out at that time, it probably wasn’t a far-fetched thought,’ she said.
‘It almost sliced her entire foot off. It went between a second and third toe and then all the way down to the ankle.’
Ms Pacoe said neighbours rushed to help with one calling an ambulance and the other taking off her shirt to use her bra as a tourniquet.
Ms McKee was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle where she underwent emergency surgery.
Unfortunately due to her horrific injuries she was told the following morning her lower leg would need to be amputated.
‘(Ms McKee) had anticipated that, but I was very unprepared,’ Ms Pascoe said, adding she was also worried about how they would afford the hospital bills.
The couple’s friend and marriage celebrant Sarah Chippindale created a GoFundMe for the couple, which has since raised $22,000.
She said the couple are spending their honeymoon in the hospital.
‘In addition to this physical and emotional journey, their lives have been completely changed,’ Ms Chippindale wrote on the campaign.
‘This time of healing will obviously demand their full focus, and financial burdens shouldn’t have to add to their worries.
‘With extended hospital stays, surgeries, rehabilitation, and time away from work ahead, Megs and Steph face a challenging road as they care for little Parker as well as manage their mortgage.
‘They had so many plans ahead and now they have all been shattered into a million pieces.’