*Warning: this video contains graphic images of the woman’s wounds.
BRIDGEWATER, S.D. – A South Dakota woman is recovering after a freak lawnmower accident sliced open her neck, KSFY reports.
It could have been much worse. A flying piece of debris narrowly missed critical parts of her neck including her carotid artery and trachea.
"I thought that I got hit by a rock, it felt like something hit me, and then fell off me. I didn't know that my neck had been sliced open," Kendra Jensen said.
Her husband, Andy Jensen, was worried his wife would bleed out in front of him.
Kendra Jensen describes herself as "extremely lucky".
Her husband was mowing their lawn when the mower kicked up a piece of debris.
"I was immediately just like 'that hurt,' and so I grabbed my neck. That's when I realized I was bleeding, and it was wet. And that's when I freaked out," Kendra said.
Andy saw her in pain and immediately knew what to do.
"He ran to his car and grabbed his trauma bag, I make fun of him all the time for having it, I'm like, 'we're never going to need that,'" Kendra said.
Andy put his thumb in the cut and started applying gauze.
An ambulance quickly arrived and took Kendra to the hospital.
After the incident, she posted photos to Facebook to show family and friends.
"My intent on posting what happened to me was to update my family and friends about it," Kendra said.
That post has now been shared more than 16 thousand times and it has generated some backlash.
"The ones that keep making comments that are like 'you shouldn't have done this,' or just shaming my husband like it was his fault, he didn't even know I was outside," Kendra said.
She's not letting all the negativity affect her recovery, though. Kendra and her husband hope her story will remind people that anything can happen in the blink of an eye.
"No one is definitely ever going to be outside again when I'm mowing," Andy said.
