Horror mowing mishap leaves Aussie mum screaming 'find my fingers'
Home security footage caught the moment Krichelle Parkinson, 39, asked her partner to retrieve her missing fingers.
WARNING — GRAPHIC IMAGES: It was a regular Sunday afternoon when Krichelle Parkinson jumped onto her ride-on mower to tidy up her backyard this week. She thought she had completely cleared the lawn when she suddenly spotted a hose in her way.
"I turned off the blades and got off the mower," the 39-year-old firefighter told Yahoo News Australia. "I moved the hose over, got back on and started the blades when I noticed there was a wire in the hose... and for some reason I leant over just to grab it, and move it out the way."
Within seconds of touching the wire, it whirled past her, jolting her back as she clutched her hand against her chest.
"There was blood spurting everywhere," she recalled. And that's when she noticed. "I looked down at my thumb and realised it was gone."
Home security camera catches bloody accident
Krichelle believes either the blades or pulley system caught the wire, pulling it at speed across her thumb while also inflicting deep lacerations across her other four fingers, breaking them in the process.
"There was no skin left but technically I still had a thumb as the main knuckle was there but my bone was exposed," she said.
In utter panic, Krichelle phoned her partner who had left her property minutes earlier, fearing what impact the horror accident would have on her children, who were home at the time. She also recognised she needed urgent assistance, mindful that her rural home in Seaham, in the NSW Hunter region, was "at least 30 minutes away from an ambulance station".
When her partner arrived, home security footage shows Krichelle screaming "find my fingers" as she clutched her injured hand while on the phone to emergency services.
"Initially I said to my partner, 'My fingers are gone', because it felt like the the most damage was to my actual fingers. But in hindsight, that's because they were the only ones that I had left," she said.
The moment of the accident was not caught on the home security camera as Krichelle was just out of vision, however, something can be seen flying across the yard after a cutting sound is heard.
Aussie nurse feared paraplegia after 'terrifying' pool mishap in Bali
Tradie's shocking injury at rowdy work party: 'Worst hangover'
Thumb was 'nowhere to be found' despite extensive searching
Despite Krichelle's partner, 13-year-old son and ambulance workers searching for her thumb in her backyard, no one was able to find it. Its location remains a mystery to the family.
"If it was in one piece, it could have been reattached, but it's nowhere to be found," Krichelle lamented to Yahoo.
Doctors were forced to "cut down the bone" of her thumb and carry out a procedure to give sensation to the top of the "nub" in the hope she will have the ability to grab things in the future.
The young mum recalls being in "extreme pain" and suffered over 30 seizures after the procedure, with doctors taking recovery "one day at a time" before setting expectations on what her future hand function will be.
Family adopt 'Aussie' approach, using humour in wake of accident
Krichelle admits she hasn't fully comprehended the extent of her injuries but knows she will need to "readjust everything" and "see where my firefighting career goes from here", but is immensely grateful for her family who had adopted a "very Aussie" approach to her losing her thumb.
"Within hours of being in the hospital my whole family, even my little nephews, are sending 'thumbs up' photos to me and have nicknamed me 'Nubby'," she said. "If you don't laugh you'll cry."
"My partner also rang me earlier and said, 'Is this the Hogwarts Express? Because I'm looking for platform nine and three-quarters," she laughed.
Krichelle wants her experience to be a warning to other Aussies
Jokes aside, the ordeal has been far less than ideal and Krichelle wants others to know how quickly something like this can happen.
"The most important thing is, no matter if you think you know what you're doing, don't lean off the mower or touch things on the grass when one is moving. Stop, put the break on, stop the blades and then do it," she warned.
"My hand was nowhere near the blades and this happened."
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
