A 51-year-old nurse, from New York City, New York, lost her leg after it was crushed beneath a dump truck.
Watch the nurse who took up rock climbing after losing her leg
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While crossing a Manhattan street in November 2017, Lauren Pine found herself pinned beneath a 20ft-long truck and was dragged along the street before the truck came to a stop.
She was rushed to the hospital where doctors had to amputate her crushed left leg and hip bone during three surgeries.
She told SWNS: “I thought I was going to die.
I was screaming and I went into shock. When he stopped the truck the wheel was right on my leg. Everyone was screaming at him to back up. I knew at that point my leg was a goner.”
“I don’t remember much, but I woke up a few days later in a fog and my leg was gone,” she added.
She was later admitted to the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital & Weill Cornell Medicine for the treatment of her right leg.
“I had been dragged along the street by the truck and my wounds on my right leg were so bad, they were like burns, so I was admitted to the burn unit a week later. From my knee to my thigh, I have skin grafts”, she said.
Lauren had to spend two months in the unit and underwent seven surgeries.
She was fitted with a prosthetic leg sixteen months after the accident. However, she uses a walker and crutches to get around.
Despite losing her leg, Lauren didn’t give up on life and has now taken up rock climbing to improve her mobility.
She said: “I started top rope climbing last year after I met Kareemah Batts, who runs Adaptive Climbing Group. I now climb about once a week and I love it. It is a wonderful program, it is something that’s affordable for amputees.”
“I don’t use my prosthetic for this. It has been really great for my mobility and for my foot. I had never climbed before but I’ve always been active.
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She even traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to take part in a non-competitive climbing event in March.
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