A British yoga teacher has said she is lucky to be alive after being cut open by a boat propeller while snorkeling in Mexico during a dream vacation with her husband.
Amor Armitage, 37, said it was a “miracle” she survived the horrific accident on December 17 while swimming in the azure waters off Cozumel, the exotic island known for its world-class scuba diving.
Armitage detailed the nightmarish ordeal on her website, yogabasingstoke.com.
She said it all started when she was snorkeling and free diving while her husband Chase, a movie stuntman who was working on a US flick.
The yoga teacher said she decided to return to the boat and was about to climb the ladder when the boat’s engine roared.
“When I hold on to the ladder, I take out a fin, the captain of the boat doesn’t see me, I suddenly realize that the boat is moving and I can’t say anything, just no words came out, I was afraid frozen [sic] me,” Armitage wrote.
Amor Armitage, 37, a British yoga teacher, suffered devastating injuries when she was sliced up by a boat propeller while vacationing in Cozumel. Facebook / Amor Armitage
British yoga teacher Amor Armitage, 37, and her husband Chase.Instagram / @yogablissipline
“Everything seems to slow down as I feel the boat propeller hitting my abdomen, genitals and legs, my body feels heavy and I see the boat move away from me, a cry comes from my guts for help asks, the captain sees me, but I know I have to swim to the boat, so with cuts all over my body, I managed to swim back to the ladder,” she continued.
Armitage said the captain told her she had to “climb the ladder,” but she “looked down and saw my insides out.”
“God must have been holding me (through the rise in stress hormones) helping me push me to the boat while my leg feels broken, my body feels mangled and I feel an ache that is out of this world” , she described.
Armitage said a blood clot in her femoral artery likely prevented her from bleeding to death. Facebook/Amor Armitage
The yoga teacher has undergone three surgeries and 10 blood transfusions.Instagram / @yogablissipline
Armitage eventually made it back to the boat, where she said her husband’s words and love kept her alive on the trip to the hospital.
“He did his best to keep me with him and I really feel like I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for my angel Chase,” she added.
But it was a blood clot that was the real miracle.
“It appears I developed a blood clot in my femoral artery during the accident, which prevented me from losing too much blood both during transport to the hospital and during the surgery,” revealed Armitage.
“Without her, I would have lost a lot of blood,” Armitage said.
The freak accident happened while Armitage was swimming in the azure waters off Cozumel, the exotic island known for its world-class diving. Facebook / Amor Armitage
The yoga teacher said she was also lucky the propeller didn’t reach any of her organs – and that she had an “extra artery”.
The extra blood vessel “allowed blood to circulate throughout the leg and foot,” she said, adding that “not everyone has this artery, so the doctors were really lucky and so am I.”
Armitage had to undergo three surgeries and ten blood transfusions after the horrific accident.
She described part of her inner thigh as “a complete mess” and her quads, tendons and shin bone as “cut open.”
Armitage, seen here with her husband Chase, said she has a long road to recovery ahead of her. Facebook/Amor Armitage
A Just Giving page created to help cover Armitage’s hospital bills has raised more than $62,000 so far. Facebook / Amor Armitage
On Dec. 29, she gave an update saying she was still on antibiotics, painkillers and “a whole lot of medication.”
She wrote that she “cried a lot and smiled too.”
“I am at peace, accepting what happened and knowing that the universe has a divine plan for me through it,” she said.
“A lover of life, of the earth, of sacred wisdom…always a yoga student, a seeker of inner truth,” Armitage describes herself on her yoga website.
The yoga teacher said she was lucky the propeller didn’t reach any of her organs
Armitage said she should be ready to return to the UK earlier this month but the “road to recovery will be slow” and the “hospital bills are huge”.
She added that the couple had no insurance during the ill-fated trip.
A Just Giving page has raised more than £52,000 – about $62,000 – so far.