Minn. Woman Hit By Flying Tire Grateful To Be Alive
SOUTH HAVEN (WCCO) -- A simple trip to the mailbox turned dangerous for a woman in South Haven on Monday.
"All I remember is laying on the ground, something hit me. I said 'Oh, my God' that was really a blow," said Jeanne McGuire.
At first, McGuire didn't know what hit her, but she knows now. A runaway tire struck her leg, she hit the ground and was knocked out.
McQuire was getting mail from a friend's house off County Road 7 when she was hit by the flying tire.
"I didn't know what hit me, but the tire hit me from the back," said McGuire.
A man with a horse trailer was driving down the road when the lug nuts came loose and one of the tires rolled off, which slammed into Jeanne's right leg. She said, "the bone came through the skin, so it was painful."
She says she was knocked out for a minute, but when she woke up there were several people around to help her. Some of them got blankets out of their cars to keep her warm.
"I was lucky. If the tire hit me in the head or chest, I would have been done," said McGuire.
Jeanne broke her leg in four places and she had surgery right away.
"They put a rod underneath my knee and it goes all the way down my ankle and I got two bolts down here and a bolt up here," said McGuire.
It's going to take about nine months before she's back on her feet.
Although Jeanne has to endure all this pain, she says she's very grateful for the people who helped her out.
"I'm very lucky ... very, very lucky," she said.
Sonya Goins, Producer
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WCCO-TV's Dennis Douda Reports
