A mother lost both of her feet after a boat reportedly struck her raft on Lake Michigan.
Police responded to a report that ‘two boats collided with people trapped underneath’ earlier this month, Chicago Police Department Marine Unit Officer Ark Pachnik stated on Monday.
One victim was ‘hanging halfway into the boat’ and first responders found that ‘both feet were severed’, Pachnik said.
A woman, Lana Batochir, 34, identified herself as the victim in a GoFundMe page launched early this week. She is a wife and mother of two children. The Chicago woman said that August 13 changed her life forever.
‘My husband and I went on our friend’s boat and we took it out to Chicago Playpen. Attached to our boat was an eight person floating raft, we were all hanging out on it until tragedy struck,’ wrote Batochir.
‘A Reckless boat driver reversed into our inflatable raft at full throttle destroying everything in its way.’
Batochir recalled that ‘everything happened so fast’ and that everyone on the raft was under the other boat within seconds.
‘The boat’s propeller struck me, leaving me with unimaginable pain. I thought I was dying,’ she wrote. ‘I fought for my life for seconds which felt like minutes. I began to drown, I couldn’t swim.’
Batochir said that once her head was above water, she saw her husband searching for her frantically.
‘We connected eyes, but I couldn’t stay up, I truly began to drown. I felt myself drifting down like an object, I knew I would die,’ she said.
Batochir credits her husband for rescuing her from water and saving her life.
‘As I was getting pulled onto the boat I glanced at my legs and realized that both my legs were gone,’ she wrote.
She was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. On Monday, she said she was scheduled to be amputated below the knees on both legs, and had to have targeted muscle reinnervation surgery.
‘Even though it feels like the worst thing that happened to me, I still feel very lucky to be alive,’ she wrote. ‘Im grateful I will be able to hug and kiss my kids, my husband, my family, and my friends. I will get through this and come out stronger with my new lifestyle.’
The GoFundMe page had raised more than $120,000 as of Thursday evening.
A second victim was injured in the horrific boat accident. The victim’s hand was ‘severely severed’, according to Officer Raul Echevarria.
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