A sports coach who lost her leg in a freak jet ski accident has described how a Fourth of July weekend on the water turned to horror.
Katie Guillory, a gymnastics trainer at Louisiana State University, recalled the moment a large wave struck her, causing the tow rope to wrap around her leg and sever it.
A tow rope is used to drag other watercraft behind the jet ski, and during rescue and recovery operations for broken jet skis or other small boats.
Tow ropes are supposed to be designed to absorb sudden jerks and be elastic enough to prevent entanglement, but something went wrong with Guillory’s.
The strength and conditioning coach and former softball player spoke with ABC affiliate KATC3 about the day her life changed in an instant.
Recalling what went through her mind during the accident, Guillory said: ‘Something feels weird, something feels off – but I’m not in any pain.
‘I thought maybe it was one of the life vest straps near my feet or something like that.
‘I don’t really recall, I can’t make sense of it… and then I remember the jet ski coming around, and I went to step up on the jet ski, and I couldn’t step up.’
Katie Guillory (pictured), a sports coach who lost her leg in a freak jetski accident has described how a Fourth of July weekend on the water turned to horror
Guillory (pictured center), a gymnastics trainer at Louisiana State University, has spoken with ABC affiliate KATC3 about the day her life changed in an instant amid a jet ski accident
The strength and conditioning coach said a large wave struck her jet ski, causing the tow rope to wrap around her leg and sever it. She has been recovering for 10 weeks since the horror
Dazed, Guillory tried to figure out what had happened, and looked down to see a sea of red in the ocean below her body.
‘Half of my leg is gone, and hanging by the rope that’s intermingled,’ Guillory said. ‘And I am bleeding – very, very, very much.’
The gym coach was rushed to hospital in Baton Rouge, where medics performed an emergency amputation on the lower half of her left leg.
Guillory said coming to terms with her injury was one of the most difficult things she has ever had to endure.
‘It was hard. It was hard to swallow,’ she told KATC3.
‘I’ve been an athlete my whole life and obviously, I’m not an athlete currently, but I’m around athletes, and I train like an athlete.
‘You put so much stock in that identity, and then it’s stripped away from you like this. It just makes you want to evaluate what things in life are really, really important.’
Guillory’s mother told KATC3 that her daughter has shown remarkable strength and resilience through the ordeal.
‘I know it’s mentally, physically and emotionally hard for her—but you would never know it,’ she said.
Guillory has also chronicled her recovery journey on social media, including celebrating her 10 week anniversary of becoming an amputee on Saturday.
The gym coach said she had been enjoying weightlifting with her prosthetic leg, which she described as ‘awesome’ while thanking her ‘army’ of supporters including friends, family, and physical therapists.
Pictured: Guillory speaking with ABC affiliate KATC3 about the day her life changed forever
Guillory said she had been enjoying weightlifting with her prosthetic leg, and she took time to thank her ‘army’ of supporters including friends, family, and physical therapists
‘How blessed am I?!? God is good! Another year older and this time, a foot shorter,’ Guillory wrote alongside videos showing her progress.
Guillory has not let the injury hold her back, and she is still coaching gymnastics students at LSU according to the school’s website.
In an earlier post shared August 23, she wrote: ‘I’ve had my fair share of surgeries and recoveries but this one takes the cake so far.
‘The past seven weeks have felt like seven months. A rollercoaster of adapting and overcoming.
‘New doors were open whether I liked it or not but to my surprise; doors of pain were met with support, doors of struggle were met with grace, doors of exhaustion were met with help, and doors of doubt were met with secure truth.’
The popular gym coach’s posts were greeted with a flood of praise and encouragement from friends and students.
