Florida Woman Loses Top of Finger Using Metal Door on Library Drop Box: ‘It Hit an Artery’

Barbara Haverly was returning a book at the W.T. Bland Public Library in Mount Dora when the accident happened

A Florida woman is recovering from losing the top of her finger while returning a book to a library drop box.

Barbara "Bobbie" Haverly was at the W.T. Bland Public Library in Mount Dora in central Florida when the accident happened at around 12:30 p.m. on July 28, reported Fox News.

"It was a busy afternoon at the library," Haverly told KTVU in San Francisco. "There was a line of people waiting to check out books and lots of children around in the newly designed kids’ area."

As she put the book in the box, the metal door swung back and caught her hand, she told the outlet, adding that she felt a sharp pain before noticing her left middle finger had been severed by the flap.

"I was in shock," she said. "It hit an artery, so there was blood squirting everywhere."

Being a registered nurse, Haverly asked the staff to retrieve the cut-off section of her finger and put it into ice for preservation, added KTVU.

As blood gushed from her finger, a man in the checkout line also rushed to the bathroom to grab paper towels.

"The library staff might have been shocked too. Patrons were trying to check out books and they were helping them," she recalled to KTVU. "But I insisted they retrieve the finger and get it into cold ice water."

Haverly brought her fingertip to the hospital, where she had surgery and stayed for three days, she told the outlet. Sadly, they could not reattach her finger, however, as the nerve endings were too heavily damaged.

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"Instead, more of my finger had to be taken off because it was cut off diagonally," Haverly continued. "My surgeon said he had to cut straight across to allow skin to grow back."

"They thought I must have cut myself with a knife, not returned a book to the library,” she added.

Haverly told KTVU that she's a keen reader and has been a regular visitor to the  W.T. Bland Public Library for over three decades — where she's previously used the same drop box multiple times.

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"I was very active, and now everything that brings me joy, I can't do," she said. "I had to cancel a visit with my grandkids because I can't lift them. My daily routine has been interrupted."

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While new skin will grow over Haverly's wound, she will never have a nail again. Her sister, Gloria Gluskin, has now set up a GoFundMe account to assist with medical bills.

"Yesterday, while returning a book through the library book depository-the top (of) Bobbie’s finger to the first knuckle was cut off," Gluskin wrote on the GoFundMe. "Bobbie and Paul have a minimal insurance plan with a very high deductible. I am asking for you to give what you can to help them pay this medical bill. Thank you so much"

Barbara Haverly or the  W.T. Bland Public Library did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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