Pre-school teacher survives miraculously

Heart-stopping video shows the moment a Boston pre-school teacher collided with sharp rocks during a 40-foot cliff dive,’ splitting’ her foot in half and breaking her back.

Jamie Brotsky, 29, followed other travellers in jumping from steep cliffs into the water in Italy’s Liguria area.

But she didn’t leap far enough, and instead smacked into the rock wall before falling into the ocean.

Ms. Brotsky damaged a vertebra in her back and smashed both of her heels. Doctors fought for nine hours to preserve her left foot, which had’split’ in two.

Her family paid $20,000 to bring her home to Boston, Massachusetts, where her foot had become black due to a water infection.

It caused surgeons to conduct a partial amputation, removing sections of her foot and reconstructing it with muscle and skin from her legs.

Despite being told she would never walk again, she has miraculously recovered. And he recently performed another cliff leap in Hawaii.

She had been travelling throughout Europe for two weeks when she began cliff jumping in Riomaggiore, a Cinque Terre settlement, in June 2018.

‘I was on vacation and thought why not try something new,’ she explained. I didn’t jump far enough out and knew I’d strike the rocks.

‘It was only a matter of seconds, yet it felt like I was falling in slow motion.’ ‘By some miracle, I made it.’

Onlookers dragged her to safety, and she was airlifted to San Martino Hospital in Italy.

‘I inquired if it was terrible, and [doctors] responded, ‘Don’t look at your feet,’ Ms Brotsky added.

‘It was entirely damaged; it didn’t resemble a foot.’ As I was stretchered to the chopper, I left a trail of blood in my wake.’

Jamie’s family flew her home after she spent 11 days in the hospital.

When she landed, her foot began ‘turning black,’ and physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston worried she would need a full amputation.

In the end, she had her left foot partially amputated, and doctors used muscle from her back and a skin graft from her thigh to try to salvage the limb.

‘It was very touch and go,’ she added. Doctors didn’t know whether I’d be able to walk again, let alone run, after all of the surgery.

‘No one could give me a clear answer – it was a really frightening period.’

She was confined to a wheelchair for the next three months, unable to stand, move, or even shower.

‘I started counselling and I got to work,’ Ms Brotsky explained. I wanted to disprove the physicians, and I’m really proud of myself.

‘After the first weekend, I was off crutches and walking alone with a walker.’

‘When they saw how well I was doing, they couldn’t believe it – I was their poster child for recovery.’

Jamie went trekking across Hawaii in April 2021 after getting healthy and even did another cliff dive.

The accident hasn’t stopped her, and she plans to sell everything and go again.

‘I performed another cliff leap, this time successfully,’ Jamie continued.

‘I broke into tears afterwards because I was so proud of myself.’

‘It’s been three years since the accident, and I never imagined I’d be where I am now.’

‘I want to show people that no matter what the doctors say, with a good mindset and a desire to better yourself and your future, you can achieve almost anything.’

‘I feel like I’ve been given a second shot at life, and I’m not going to squander it.’