Hannah Smith, who was on holiday in the Bahamas celebrating her graduation, has no recollection of the moment she toppled into the sea and was maimed by the boat’s propellors
The parents of a young woman whose legs were ‘torn off’ during a freak boat accident say it’s a “miracle” she’s still alive.
Hannah Smith, 22, was celebrating finishing her degree with best friend Brooklyn with a cruise in the Bahamas last week. The pair were on a trip out with fellow passengers on the first day of their holiday and had hopped on a pontoon boat to bring them to shore.
But tragedy struck when Hannah fell from the side of the boat as it was docking and was dragged under its propellors, leaving her with catastrophic injuries including partially severed legs. Two quick-thinking passengers grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back on board, but Hannah’s life hung in the balance as she was rushed to hospital and later airlifted to the US for the first of many surgeries.
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Now her parents Tracy and Marvin Smith, sisters Abigail and Rachel, and brother Joseph are praying for Hannah to pull through, knowing she has her whole life ahead of her. Her parents and Rachel have travelled from their home in Tennessee to be by her bedside in a Miami hospital, where she has just undergone her eighth surgery to contain the damage done. They’ve even launched a GoFundMe to raise money for her hospital bills.
“She’s still in Intensive Care, but she’s conscious when she’s not in surgery,” Marvin tells the Mirror. “She definitely knows we’re there supporting her. It means the world to her, she was so happy when she regained consciousness that we were all here.”
“We’re trying to keep her spirits up,” says emotional mum Tracy. “She’s in a lot of pain. We’re trying to practise techniques to distract her from it. Encourage her and just try to keep her pushing forward.”
Hannah, a Crossfit-loving athlete who was a keen cheerleader, footballer and track runner, hasn’t been physically able to leave her hospital bed yet, and is still largely unaware of the extent of her injuries, including the loss of both legs and wounds to her lower body.
“She’s been so heavily medicated, she’s mentioned things but it’s like she’s having hallucinations,” explains Marvin.
“With the sedations, medications, the trauma, everything, there were also hallucinations, which they tell us is part of coming off sedation,” says Tracy. “So we have not asked her anything related to [the accident]. We need her focusing on her healing and not trying to remember or trying to relive it.”
“Right now we’re trying to keep her in today and moving forward and how bright her future can be. The whole focus is on Hannah,” adds her dad.
“She’s going to have a long journey [to recovery]. It’s a lot of extenuating damages.”
The family want to track down two Americans at the scene who gave Hannah the first aid that saved her life, including tying tourniquets to her thighs to stop the seismic blood loss.
“It was a nurse and a firefighter, they didn’t know each other but they were straight in there focusing on applying pressure. I just want to thank them. I would love to be able to talk to them, because they allowed Hannah to make it to the hospital,” says Tracy as she holds back tears.
Hannah had recently graduated with top honours for her arts degree at Miles College, Alabama. She was looking forward to travelling and moving out of the family home into her own apartment. But for the next few months at least, she’ll be hospitalised until she’s well enough to be discharged.
“We’re trying to help her with the emotions, we’re not telling her not to feel her emotion, but we can’t stay there questioning life, questioning God, questioning ‘why me’. We’re working on her emotional stability because we think that that’s the most important thing to help her recover,” says Marvin.
Tracy adds: “She’d just graduated, so she’s just starting her life and she’s got all these plans. You know, life just changes so quickly and unexpectedly.
“One of the things that she said, with all the things that have happened to her, and it just touched us, it was so prophetic, she said: ‘Mommy, we’re all spirits walking around here and God just loans us a body.’
“Now we’ve got to stay strong for her, so we just try to follow her lead and help her in any way we can, whether that’s emotionally, spiritually, physically helping her, whatever it is.”
The Smith family have launched a GoFundMe page to help meet Hannah’s rising medical bills. You can donate at www.gofundme.com/f/support-hannahs-endlessly-adventures.