Woman who had leg amputated after being hit by tractor is adapting to life at home after 17 months in hospital
A woman who had to have her leg amputated and spend 17 months recovering in hospital after being hit by a tractor has spoken about her experience for the first time.
Lucie Maguire, now 22, was 19 when she broke her back, had her right leg amputated and suffered internal injuries after she was hit by the vehicle.
She was travelling back from work, as a apprentice nursery worker, in January 2021 when her mum Sue's car started filling with smoke.
Lucie got out and went to help her mum out of the car when she was suddenly hit by a tractor and dragged along the road, underneath the vehicle's trailer.
She was placed in an induced coma at Leeds General Infirmary with her parents allowed visits to say "goodbye" to their daughter.
Doctors feared Lucie wouldn't survive the severe internal bleeding she experienced, and if she did, they weren't sure if she would ever be able to sit up, let alone walk.
Recalling the moments immediately after the accident Lucie says she said "goodbye" to her mum at the scene and to her dad Paul over the phone, because she "accepted" she would die.
"It was a cold, dark winter’s evening," she recalls.
"My mum was driving me back home from work when the car started making funny noises and filled with horrible, black smoke.
"We pulled over on a country lane and I got out.
"I went to the driver’s side to help my mum.
"I saw bright headlights coming towards me and thought it was someone who could help us.
"That’s when I was hit by a tractor and dragged under its 10-tonne trailer.
"I remember being stuck underneath, going round continuously with the wheels before it spat me out a bit further down the road."
Initially Lucie says she didn't feel any pain.
"My right leg just felt uncomfortable. I wanted someone to straighten it for me as I couldn’t."
Lucie says she told her parents how much she loved them as she believed she wouldn't survive the ordeal.
Lucie broke her back, had her right leg amputated at the hip, suffered internal injuries and is due to have her bladder removed.
She spent months in hospital having to re-learn how to sit up, stand up and then eventually walk while holding a rail.
"When I woke up a month later in the intensive care unit I could see my mum at the foot of my bed and my dad was stroking my hair," Lucie recalls.
"I couldn’t talk, I struggled to breathe, and I was in so much pain.
"I had no idea about the severity of my injuries.
"It was a few days before they told me I had no right leg.
"The right side of my pelvis was gone too and I had open wounds.
"I had a lot of internal damage. A lot of my internal organs no longer worked.
"The only way the doctor could explain my injuries was to compare me to someone who had been blown up. I remember thinking 'Wow, this is serious'."
Lucie describes the following weeks and months of her recovery as a blur as she underwent various surgeries.
"I remember thinking this shouldn’t be happening to me at 19," she adds.
Lucie was eventually well enough to leave hospital on June 28 last year – 518 days after the accident.
She had to live in a makeshift bedroom in her parents' pub because she was unable to use the stairs to access the family home above.
Watch: 'My girls both needed their legs amputating - despite one-in-a-billion odds'
Now, Lucie uses a power-assisted wheelchair and lives as independently as she can in her own bungalow in Kirkby Malzeard, North Yorkshire.
"At times I felt like the pain was never going to end," she recalls.
"There was no light at the end of tunnel.
"The hospital became my home. The staff became my family.
"It got to the stage where I didn’t want to leave. I never thought I would enjoy life again.
"But every obstacle I overcame, I felt immensely proud of myself," she adds.
"Slowly I felt more positive and found strength I never knew I had."
Now Lucie believes to have survived what she did, she can get through anything.
"It’s made me a more resilient person," she adds.
Having spent Christmas 2021 in hospital Lucie is now supporting Day One Trauma Support's Christmas Appeal, the charity that supported her. It is aiming to help even more people who face life-changing injuries over the coming months.
"Christmas 2021 in hospital was the worst," says Lucie.
"I should have been partying with my friends, not crying in hospital and worrying about my future.
"I’m so grateful that Day One was there for me and my family at Christmas.
"They do so much for people with injuries like mine, which is why I’m so passionate to support their Christmas Appeal and would encourage anyone to donate and help other people like me."
If you or someone you know has had a traumatic injury and need support, visit the Day One website to see the options available for you.
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Additional reporting SWNS.
