The day started like most any other summer day for the Kagarice family. Sandy Kagarice prepared breakfast for her three girls before they headed outside to play in the August heat and she headed off to work. The day wore on as normal until that afternoon when she received a phone that would forever change the lives of Sandy and her family.

Sandy answered a phone call from her husband, Matthew, telling her LifeFlight Eagle was taking their 21-month-old daughter, Addison, to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

Addison was jumping on the trampoline with her two sisters when she lost her balance and fell off the trampoline and into the path of a commercial lawn mower. Addison’s leg ended up under the mower and sustained what would prove to be a partial amputation of her right foot.

Matthew immediately picked his daughter up, took her inside and wrapped her foot and ankle in towels to control the bleeding. While he was trying to control the bleeding Matthew called his father, Chuck, the fire chief of the Creighton Fire Protection District. Chuck immediately notified Garden City Fire Protection District for an ambulance and quickly responded to the scene. He also made a quick decision to call LifeFlight Eagle.

 

“I made the call for the helicopter after I arrived on scene because I knew that Addison was going to need to be transported on to the city,” Chuck said. “The helicopter arrived just after the ambulance arrived. I felt that the helicopter was the best means of transport in this situation.”

Upon receiving the call, LifeFlight Eagle 2, a helicopter based in Harrisonville, Mo., was dispatched to respond to the Kagarice house in Creighton, Mo. LifeFlight Eagle flight nurse Sandra Guerrieri, flight paramedic Derek Coulter, and pilot James Evangelista were airborne within four minutes of receiving the call and arrived at the scene only 10 minutes later.

Guerrieri said that when the LifeFlight Eagle crew arrived on scene, Addison was in the back of an ambulance crying, but in spite of everything, in relatively good shape. Assisting the local EMS agency, the LifeFlight Eagle crew prepared Addison for the flight to Children’s Mercy Hospital.

“As soon as we got her in the aircraft, I started the IV,” Guerrieri said. “Considering what happened, she was so good. She did wonderful.”

Upon arrival at Children’s Mercy, the emergency department staff was able to unwrap all the towels from the foot. They quickly realized Addison was likely going to lose much of her right foot.

Four months and six surgeries later, Addison seems to have adapted quite well.

“Nothing slows her down,” says her mother, Sandy. “She’s jumping, running walking. She’s doing fine. The doctors said, ‘Does anything slow that girl down? Apparently not!’”

Still somewhat shaken by the events, Matthew says it is good to see his daughter adapting so well, and quickly agrees, she doesn’t seem to have been slowed down by the mishap. He’s very appreciative of all the help Addison and her family received that day, the rapid response of those coming to help Addison, and marvels at how fast she was able to get to the hospital.

“We’re super happy with all the emergency people,” Matthew said. “Everything happened real fast. I couldn’t believe it when they called and said she’d already arrived (at Children’s Mercy Hospital).”