Girl's foot severed in lanwmower horror

A Fenland family have issued a heartfelt warning after their daughter suffered horrific injuries in a lawn mower accident.

Five-year-old Maisie is currently in Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge following Wednesday’s (13) accident which saw her left foot completely severed along with the big toe on her right foot.

Quick thinking, by her former police officer mum Emma Baker, meant surgeons at Addenbrooke’s were able to re-attach the foot and get blood flowing, but the little girl has a long road to recovery and faces further intricate surgeries to repair damage including to ligaments nerves, and tendons and they are hoping that her body will not reject the foot.

She has already undergone three operations including the initial 10-hour surgery to re-attach her foot.

Her parents have also launched both a Gofundme and a Justgiving page to raise money for their eldest daughter to help with her recovery after the horrifying accident, which saw Emma desperately trying to stem the bleeding while they waited for the emergency services to arrive.

Emma described how Maisie and her sister, four-year-old Poppy were chasing the ride on mower as they usually do while their grandad was cutting the family’s grass at their Terrington St John home.

She was trying to get the girls to come away and tidy their toys off the lawn so the grass could be cut and was carrying toys to the playhouse, with her seven-month-old daughter Freya in her pushchair.

Posting on the Gofundme page Emma described the event’s which then unfolded when Maisie fell into the path of the lawnmower as her unsuspecting grandad was reversing.

Emma said: “Her foot was thrown from the mower approximately 30ft colliding into the back of my leg. I immediately turned round and saw a bone in a mud area but didn’t think what it could be as we live on a farm and see dead animals from time to time.

“I then saw Poppy at the back of the mower looking scared, I thought they had thrown something into the mower, but then I was horrified to see Maisie stuck under the mower.

“My Dad lifted the mower and I pulled her out and saw that Maisie was bleeding and missing a foot. I was so shocked and totally freaked but needed to be strong for my daughter. I was a police officer and my training sprung into action to save my daughter.”

Emma has described the trauma of the past week, made worse by the coronavirus pandemic, which has meant only one of Maisie’s parents have been allowed by her hospital bedside.

She said: “It has been absolutely horrendous. Only one of us has been able to be in hospital with our daughter because of the coronavirus, so it has been really hard. Her dad is with her, but I wasn’t able to be there when she came round from the surgery.

“We have since found out there are in the region of 20,000 accidents involving lawn mowers every year and the majority involve three to five-year-olds. There is very little awareness of the dangers, it is talked about more in America, but you don’t hear much about it over here.

“We had no idea the lawn mower could cause such devastating injuries and it all happened so quickly. We want others to be aware of the dangers and keep children away from lawn mowers, so no one else has to go through what we are going through at the moment.

“Getting that message out there is so important, which is why we have spoken out. We have launched the Gofundme page, so Maisie can have the things she might need.”

The target has been set intentionally low as the warning is more important to the family right now.

And a photographer friend has launched a separate fundraising raffle to provide Maisie with a special treat once she is recovered.

Sarah Mason of Sarah Masons Photography who is based in Emneth launched the fundraiser after hearing about the incident and said she wanted to do something to help, her son, Teddy, attends the same school as Maisie.

She is running the raffle to win a family photo shoot worth £135, with the hope the winners can enjoy the experience either later this year or early next year depending on the coronavirus situation.

It is just £2 to enter and people can enter as many times as they like with 100 per cent of the money going to the little girl. The winner will be drawn on May 31.

Payment can be made via Paypal (friends and family) to sarahmasonphoto@hotmail.com or is you prefer to bank transfer then direct message Sarah for details.

To support Maisie’s appeal visit Gofundme - Maisie’s journey or Justgiving