A teenager was left with injuries similar to those caused by a bomb after being hit by a tractor and dragged down the road.
Lucie Maguire, who was 19 at the time, had her right leg amputated, broke her back and suffered more internal injuries after the accident. She was returning from her job as an apprentice nursery worker in January 2021 when her mum, Sue's car started filling with "horrible, black smoke."
She got out of the car to help her mum when she was suddenly hit by a tractor and dragged along the road, underneath its 10-tonne trailer. She was put into an induced coma at Leeds General Infirmary in West Yorks. and her parents were allowed visits to say their "goodbyes."
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Doctors feared Lucie, now 22, wouldn't survive the severe internal bleeding she experienced and didn't know if she would ever be able to sit up, let alone walk. NHS staff even liaised with military doctors as they compared her injuries "to someone who had been blown up in Afghanistan."
Speaking about the accident for the first time, Lucie said: "It was a cold, dark winter's evening. 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.
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"I was stuck under there going round continuously with the wheels and it spat me out a bit further down the road.
"I remember not feeling in pain...I told my parents how much I loved them. I accepted I was probably going to die because surely nobody survives what I'd just been through."
Lucie had her right leg amputated at the hip, broke her back and suffered internal injuries - still is still having operations now and will have her bladder removed.
Lucie said: "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.
"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...The only way the doctor could explain my injuries was to compare me to someone who had been blown up in Afghanistan. I remember thinking 'Wow, this is serious'."
Lucie left hospital in June last year - 518 days after the accident, which happened on a country lane between Ripley and Bishop Thornton in North Yorks.
She uses a power-assisted wheelchair and lives as independently as she can in her own bungalow.
She said: "At times I felt like the pain was never going to end. There was no light at the end of tunnel."
She added: "Slowly I felt more positive and found strength I never knew I had.
"I've gained my independence.
"If I've got through this, I can get through anything."
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up Daily Star's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to starletters@dailystar.co.uk
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