My 3yo almost died in a freak accident, but her shoes saved her life

"I will FOREVER be shouting from the rooftops for everyone to buy these shoes and I will forever buy them for all five of my kids."

Mum of-five Alison Dorton was at work on a typical day in May, when her 15-year-old son texted her that they needed sugar at home.

 

But just a few minutes later, she noticed she'd missed follow up calls from him - and finally a text - that urgently told her:

“Sophia got hurt. It's bad.”

Sophia is Alison's three-year-old, and what had unfolded at home has left the mum "still in complete shock" weeks later.

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"Freak accidents happen, you guys, they happen"

Alison decided to share the "freak accident" on TikTok, as a way to deal with what happened, and as a warning to all parents.

"I am still in complete shock," she begins in her clip, adding that when she called her son back, he said, "She has a cut on her foot, I think it's ok."

But then, Alison heard her husband talking in the background and asked who he was speaking to. The teen told her, "911".

She says that she rushes home, sees the ambulance in the driveway and finds her eldest son cleaning up "a lot of blood and stuff." Finally, as the family follows the ambulance, Alison's husband manages to tell her the full story.

"She went outside to see her dad, and he was mowing. 'I was watching her, making her stay behind me...I was being so careful. Out of nowhere, she darted in front of me and tripped and fell"."

Alison explains that their walking lawn mower is self-propelling. Her husband stopped it immediately when he saw it had made contact with his toddler.

"This is the crazy part," Alison recalls. "She never usually wears shoes outside," when she's at home. But that day, she was wearing her Crocs.

"Had she not had these Crocs on, she probably would have lost a foot. It would have been so much worse. It ripped the Croc off, and the Croc was lodged into the blades - and stopped the blades."

Alison added that the blade hit the "fattiest" part of the heel, and it "missed bone and tendon... but it was not superficial, it was very deep."

Tearfully, the mum concludes, "There's not a mark on these Crocs, they're not cut... there's just a bit of blood on them."

Image: @debtfreewithali/TikTok

"Honestly, shout out to Crocs"

The caption of Alison's clip reads:

"Honestly shout out to @Crocs - I will FOREVER be shouting from the rooftops for everyone to buy these shoes and I will forever buy them for all 5 of my kids.

"Please be kind. This was a freak accident that could have happened to anyone. Obviously we will never have her outside while he mows again. It just all happened so fast and no one knows what they would do in a situation until they’re actually in it."

@debtfreewithali

Honestly shout out to @Crocs - I will FOREVER be shouting from the rooftops for everyone to buy these shoes and I will forever buy them for all 5 of my kids. Please be kind. This was a freak accident that could have happened to anyone. Obviously we will never have her outside while he mows again.. it just all happened so fast & no one knows what they would do in a situation until they’re actually in it #crocs #croc #texasroadhouse #lawnmower #accident #freakaccident #hospital #trauma #emergency #ambulance

♬ original sound - Alison 🌸

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"Don't run the mower when watching your kids"

Because it's the internet, Alison did receive 'feedback' to her post. It ranged from, "Clearly people haven’t seen the speed of a toddler and are quick to judge!," to "This is why you don’t operate a lawn mower while watching your kids, what a stupid idea."

Others were very empathetic to the father, with one writing, "I can’t imagine what’s going through your husband’s mind. Sending him a bro hug from a fellow dad."

And this viewer added, "Oh my gosh the comments shaming dad. I grew up RIDING on a lawn mower with my dad. He did what he needed to do! Glad the little is ok!"

Then there was this startling revelation: "I work in plastic surgery. Two summers ago we had four kids in only one week have to have the rest of their legs amputated or extensive surgery to fix the damage from lawn mower accidents."

Lucky, in follow up videos, Alison revealed that her little girl is healing well, even if the rest of the family is still replaying the incident in their minds.

Originally published as My 3yo almost died in a freak accident, but her shoes saved her life