Yoga instructor Amor Armitage, 37, miraculously survives boat propeller accident while on diving trip
LONDON, UK: A yoga instructor miraculously survived near-fatal injuries after she was hit by a boat propeller during a luxury holiday in Mexico.
Amor Armitage, 37, was hospitalized after sustaining horrific injuries while on a diving trip with her husband Chase. She reportedly revealed how medics told her that a "miracle" two-inch blood clot in her artery prevented her from bleeding to death, and was now recovering in a hospital on the Caribbean island of Cozumel. Chase, 37, in the meantime, was desperately trying to raise over £60,000 (~$72,600) to cover medical bills and fly his wife back to the UK.
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According to the Daily Mail, the incident took place about a fortnight ago after Armitage flew to Cozumel to touch base with her stuntman husband, who had been away working on a US film set. The couple vacationed in Cozumel and planned a further two weeks touring Florida before they headed home to Basingstoke in the New Year. Amor posted a gripping account of the incident on her yoga website. She said that on December 17, they decided to go diving and snorkeling trip to see stingrays, reef sharks, and a giant sea turtle. The experience had been "truly magical" but things went sideways soon after.
"I felt a bit cold and decided to head to the boat to warm up. I swam to the boat’s ladder, there was music playing in the boat and the captain was not looking in my direction," she wrote, continuing, "When I hold on to the ladder, I take out one fin, the captain doesn’t see me, I suddenly realize the boat has started moving and I’m unable to say anything, words just didn’t come out. Everything seems to slow down as I feel the boat’s propeller hitting my abdomen, genitals, and legs, my body feels heavy and I see the boat moving away from me. Out of my gut comes a visceral scream, asking for help, the captain sees me but I know I have to swim towards the boat, so with cuts all over my body, I managed to swim to the ladder once again. He tells me I have to go up the ladder, I looked down and see my insides out, I feel there’s no chance I can pull myself up alone."
Armitage went on, "God must have been holding me,’" as she somehow brought her broken body onto the deck. "My body feels mutilated and I feel a pain that is out of this world… Once I manage to pull myself up, the captain helps place my body on the floor and I start trembling, he calls the scuba team and Chase arrives," she said. Amor said that she felt she would die at that moment but her husband's loving words gave her the strength to pull through. "He did his best to keep me with him and I truly feel that if it wasn’t for my angel Chase, I would not be here today," she added.
Speaking to the Daily Mail on Saturday, December 31, Chase said that he had been scuba diving eight meters underwater and heard his wife's bone-chilling screams upon resurfacing. "She was lying on the deck with her abdomen cut open. These were incredible wounds and I had no idea how she could survive them," he recalled, adding, "I just ditched the heavy scuba kit and held her tight as best I could. You hear people talk about soul mates, and Amor and I, we are those soul mates. We’re quite spiritual people, we feel closely connected. I told her I wouldn’t let her go, that we had so much strength together, that the world needed her and it wasn’t time for her to leave. And that she had shown she was a miracle by staying alive. But it wasn’t even about the words. The love we have is powerful enough. She also has a positive mindset and, despite the situation she faced, that helped her greatly."
Armitage was rushed ashore to an ambulance and taken to the intensive care unit at Cozumel International Hospital, where she underwent a four-hour operation to reconstruct and attach her bones and tendons. Furthermore, she also underwent surgery on her inner thigh which had reportedly been "completely scrambled." Fortunately, however, the propeller hadn't sliced through any organs. "It seems that during the accident, I got a blood clot in my femoral artery which prevented me from losing too much blood both during transport to the hospital and during surgery. Without it, I would have lost a lot of blood," Armitage reportedly said.
She said she underwent a second operation to remove the blood clot and bypass the severed artery using a vein harvested from her other leg. That said, Armitage is also receiving daily treatment in a hyperbaric chamber, which increases oxygen levels in her blood and helps accelerate the healing process. While she is on painkillers and can't move her left leg properly, she is feeling her toes again and there are hopes she will make a full recovery. A source at Cozumel’s Port Captaincy told the Daily Mail that officials will carry out an internal investigation into the incident.
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Chase has now put his beloved Porsche Spyder 981 sports car up for sale and is trying to raise funds via online campaigns. He said the hospital bills exceeded £60,000 (~$72,600). The couple, who tied the knot in 2017, is quite popular on social media where fans keep up with their glamorous jet-setting lifestyle and wellness tips. Chase became known for his parkour street running skills and has more than 75,000 followers on Instagram. Meanwhile, Armitage runs a yoga studio in Hampshire and boasts 16,000 followers. She thanked her well-wishers in a blog post for "messages, comments, and audios of support from people who love me." She added, "I can now clearly see angels on Earth and I am so extremely grateful."