A beautiful, talented Texas teenager was almost killed in a horrific boating accident.
Even if she survived, it appeared that she would lose her right arm.
But quick reaction by a friend, and a Dallas surgeon, helped lead to a miracle.
Today, 19 year old Kristen Kilpatrick seems to have it all.
She's bright, beautiful and an accomplished equestrian rider.
But a fishing trip with friends in Hico, Texas almost ended her life.
"This is the scar. We were out on a boat, having just a normal morning, and the boat kind of lurched forward and the propeller hit."
Kristen says the boat backed over her in the water.
"I just curled up into kind of a little ball. I said a prayer and just went through it for my family and friends. Not to be graphic, but just chop me into pieces."
"I just couldn't believe I was gonna die at age 18."
It severed her arm almost completely.
"My arm was barely hanging on and it was hanging on in that jacket."
Taylor Hohmann, a nursing student at TCU, was on the boat.
She called 911, requested a careflight helicopter, and made a makeshift tourniquet.
"I knew that we needed to stop the bleeding immediately and I knew that we needed to keep her conscious as much as we could and that we didn't have time. We needed to get her to the hospital," Hohmann remembers.
She says Kristen's pulse was at times faint.
"I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I hope we don't lose her'"
But hours later, Kristen was at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
In the care of Dr. Joseph Borelli, chief of orthopedic surgery.
"The propeller had gone through her skin, her tendons, muscle, bones," says Dr. Borelli.
Amazingly, Dr. Borelli was able to re-attach Kristen's arm in a 5-hour surgery.
Even more amazing Kristen wiggled her fingers 3 hours after that surgery
"I looked at my hand and I couldn't believe it. I was so, so thankful, so thankful, that it was there," recalls Kilpatrick.
After 9 months of rehabilitation, Kristen's right arm is functioning again.
"I can move them, I can hold a pen, I can paint again, I can ride horses."
Riding competitively may never happen again.
Kristen's focused on her art.
Thankful for her life, and the surgeon who put her back together.
"I just take it one day at a time, and keep praying and keep my faith strong."
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