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A woman suffered life-changing injuries after she accidentally ran herself over by forgetting to put her handbrake on.
It all happened when retired youth justice officer Kim Kynaston parked her car on the driveway of her cousin’s house in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire to post a birthday card in March 2021.
The kind deed turned into a freak accident when the 59-year-old noticed that her automatic Ford Kuga was rolling backwards down the driveway.
She went into ‘fight or flight’ mode and raced after the car to try and jump in and stop the car from rolling.
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Kim managed to get one leg inside the car but accidentally hit the accelerator pedal and her body was thrown into the car door.
The force from the impact crushed her pelvis, split her groin and bladder and left her bowels hanging out of her body.
"I'd pulled up on the drive which is on a slight incline. I got out and the car started rolling back. We think I left it in reverse instead of park," Kim recalled.
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"It was fight or flight so I went after it. The police said the handbrake was off, which totally surprised me. I have to admit that it was my fault.
"I reached in to try and stop it but I didn't make it. I was half in, half out and I put my foot on the accelerator and the door split me in half. My legs were forced apart and my pelvis was crushed.
"The force of the door went through the groin, it split my vaginal area, my bladder and my bowels were out."
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The mum-of-three and grandmother says she also accidentally hit the horn that alerted an off-duty police officer who lived on the street, who Kim later called a ‘hero’.
The officer called for a defibrillator as Kim was dying - something that ultimately saved her life.
She was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge where she was rushed into emergency surgery and spent four weeks in an induced coma.
"I had a severed vein in my left leg, the door had cut right the way through my skin,” she said.
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"They were going to get the defibrillator because I was dying. The last thing I remember is seeing the car and jumping back in it then I woke up four weeks later."
Kim, who has three grandchildren, had surgery to remove some of her bowel, stabilise her pelvis, repair her bladder and a severed nerve.
She ended up spending 12 weeks in hospital recovering from her 'life-changing' injuries.
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"They fought to put me back together, I had numerous surgeries, I had all manner of things to save my life," she said of the ordeal.
"I still have a bone missing in my pelvis. I was bleeding inside, I had transfusions. I was in an awful lot of pain, I suffered delirium.
"They were life-changing injuries, there's no two ways about it.
The accident has resulted in Kim going from being a confident driver to ‘very anxious’, and she sadly experiences panic attacks that can be triggered by the sound of a car horn.
Thankfully she’s still alive but is still on crutches and uses a mobile scooter and wheelchair. She also says her memory ‘has gone’.
Kim says looking back she wouldn’t have tried to jump in and stop the car.
Kim said: "It needs to be out there that you shouldn't get back in your bloody car. If I did any sort of risk assessment, I would have left it."
Gregory Robinson