A 54-year-old vet receptionist nearly died after a horrific accident left her impaled on a rotting wooden chair.
Jackie Stride, from West Sussex, was doing chores on her backyard farm when she noticed the chair, which had broken down leaving a stake exposed.
In an effort to protect his wandering goats from the dangerously sharp edge, he kicked the tip aside.
But in doing so, he slipped and fell onto the stake, which severed the top of his right leg, just above the back of the knee.
At first thinking the wood had simply gone through her pants, Ms. Stride, He limped home and made himself a cup of tea before seeking medical attention.
Worried that her mischievous goats Crunchie, Goldilocks and Wisp might get injured by jumping on a wooden seat, Jackie Stride, 54, decided to remove it.
The mother of two was checking on the trio last month when she noticed that part of a wooden chair her husband had made for the animals had rotted away, leaving a large spike exposed.
On the fourth attempt, Ms. Stride slipped and was sent over the peak, spinning and falling so that, unfortunately, her right leg ended up on top.
It was only when her husband David, 69, returned home from walking the dogs that he discovered the severity of her injury.
David took a photo of the wound to show her what she hadn’t been able to see: a three-inch cut.
Seeing the image, Mrs Stride suddenly felt weak and was rushed to Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.
Doctors who evaluated her found the wound was almost as deep as it was wide.
They cleaned it up, but were concerned there might be hidden splinters, and since the wood had been used in an animal pen, they were worried about the possibility of infection.
So that day she was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton to see a specialist and the next day she had special surgery to clean out any small debris that had gotten into her leg along with the stake.
It was only when her husband, David, took a photo of the wound to show her what looked like a 7cm gash just above the back of her right knee that she realised the extent of her injury.
Upon seeing the image, Ms Stride suddenly felt weak and was rushed to hospital, where she eventually underwent surgery and received eight stitches to close the wound before being sent home.
But after two nights in the hospital, he returned home with eight stitches in his leg.
Recalling her initial injury, Ms Stride said: ‘Part of it (the chair) had rotted away and broken off, leaving this big spike.
‘It was originally rounded and the parts along the other side had obviously rotted and fallen off and there was a horrible, big, sharp point.
‘I looked at it and thought they might impale themselves on it, but I never thought for a minute that I would impale myself on it.
“I was actually trying to protect my goats. I was really scared at first.”
Even now, recovering, Ms. Stride said she is still surprised at how little pain the original injury caused.
Despite being injured in the line of duty, Ms Stride said the goats were completely oblivious to her distress and the injuries she had suffered because of them.
The mother of two, pictured here with her husband David, said she was lucky to still be here as falling forward onto the stake would have risked hitting a critical artery.
“I still can’t really believe how little it hurt, because if you saw a picture you’d think it must be absolutely unbearable, but honestly it wasn’t,” she said.
Despite being injured in the line of duty, Ms Stride said the goats were completely oblivious to her distress and the harm she had suffered because of them.
“Those goats had no idea, they were happily grazing, jumping over the fence and trying to catch brambles like they do in their own little world,” he said.
‘Usually they’d be all over me, they’re like dogs really, following you everywhere, but on this occasion they were obviously more interested in the brambles and grass, the little rascals.
They weren’t really grateful, they didn’t even really lift their heads.
She currently uses her husband’s mobility scooter to get around and admits that, overall, she has been lucky.
‘I feel incredibly lucky because if I had fallen forward instead of backwards, I probably would have gone through my femoral artery, in which case I wouldn’t be here now.
“It was a real stroke of luck. If you hit the femoral artery, there’s no turning back.
“And I could have easily slipped forward and probably hit myself right in the groin.”