A surf instructor from California had her arm reattached to her body after it was ripped off by a train. 24-year-old Elieah Boyd was attempting to cross train tracks in Ventura, east of Seaward Avenue, with her 80-lbs. electric bike on Monday, July 7, PEOPLE reported.
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Woman Who Lost Arm After Being Hit By Train Gets Limb Reattached
It was around 5:30 PM local time when an oncoming train flew by, striking the arm holding her bike. Boyd didn’t even hear the train coming.
“There was no train horn,” said Boyd to KTLA. “It was like three seconds from when I saw the train to when it happened. I just happened to have my hand still on the bike as the train goes by. The train barely clipped the bike, just enough to take my arm completely off.”
The young woman recalled looking down at her arm after the incident, shocked to no longer see it there. She kept telling herself, “There’s no way this just happened. There’s no way this is real.”
You would think that an accident like this would be permanent. Fortunately, she has a retired firefighter to thank, as he had been walking with Boyd as first responders arrived at the scene. He told them to look for her arm, and lo and behold, they found her severed limb near the site of the accident.
A Medical Miracle
After the horrifying ordeal, helicopters airlifted Boyd to UC Irvine Medical Center. She underwent 10 hours of surgery and was able to start feeling her reattached arm again.
Boyd described how wild it felt to have her arm back. “Kind of like jolts of energy is what it feels like,” she said. “I do have feeling internally that it’s healing.”
As someone who loves to surf and does it for her job, she’s grateful to have her arm back. Still, there’s a long road of recovery ahead before she can get back to doing what she loves.
“As soon as I can touch the water, I’ll be on a surfboard,” said Boyd. “That’s all I dream about here in the hospital. I just want to get back in the water and surf.”
Boyd’s family launched a GoFundMe to help raise money for the 24-year-old’s healing journey. It has since raised nearly $50,000 and is 77% of the way to its goal. “We’re rallying together to ensure she has everything she needs to heal, grow, and thrive,” read the description.