Elieah Boyd describes herself as an active and creative person.
The Southern California cafe manager loves to surf, to hike, to take her Australian cattle dog running. She paints, travels as often as possible, and makes jewelry and bags.
She’s also right-handed.
Now, she’s looking at a long road to recovery after her right arm was severed — and then reattached — in early July. But the 24-year-old sees the future not as a difficult process but as a “fun challenge.”
“I might be left-handed for a little while,” she told USA TODAY from UC Irvine Medical Center, where she’s already undergone multiple surgeries, with more to come. “I’ll have learn how to live my life left-handed.”
Boyd was riding a friend’s e-bike to meet her boyfriend on July 7 when she came upon railroad tracks that cut through two neighborhoods in Ventura. As she tried to wrangle the heavy bike across the tracks, a passerby offered to help. They were lifting the bike together when Boyd saw an oncoming train.
Tracking the dangers: Cross with caution: Lack of oversight creates safety risks at private railroad crossings
“I’ve gone this way hundreds of times,” she recalled. “People around here do it all the time to get from one side of town to the other. Everybody in the city uses this crossway all the time. This just happened to be an unsafe time.”
She saw the train. She (and the man who stopped to help her) tried to get out of the way.
But Boyd estimated she had about 3 seconds to react before the train bore down on them.
Elieah Boyd had her right arm reattached after an accident with a train.
‘Everything went silent’
“I remember looking down at my arm, and everything went silent for a moment,” she remembered. “I think I was in disbelief and I was still standing there. The train was gone so fast… I remember looking at my right arm, grabbing it, and there was nothing there.”
The man who’d helped her with the bike called for help. He is a retired firefighter, Boyd said, so he knew what to do, making sure she was stabilized and telling first responders to find her arm, which was severed cleanly.
“He saw that, and he knew (the arm) was probably still viable,” Boyd said.
Boyd was taken to the nearest hospital, and then taken by helicopter to UC Irvine Medical Center. After 10 hours in surgery, the arm was reattached.
She’s had four surgeries since, and more are planned.
Elieah Boyd is a surfer and cafe manager in Southern California. She lost her right arm when she was struck by a train, but it was reattached and she’s on the road to recovery. She hopes to get back to surfing after an estimated 18 months of rehabilitation.
But her outlook hasn’t required any help.
“I feel OK, and I’m trying to stay as positive as I can,” she said. The pain has been minimal and she’s been able to mostly avoid heavy painkillers, while expressing how impressive and compassionate medical professionals at the hospital have been. (A request for comment from UC Irvine was not immediately returned.)
According to Massachusetts General Hospital, replantation (or the surgical reattachment of a limb) is a complicated process requiring several steps including removal of damaged tissue, shortening bones, reattaching with pins or plates, and repairing muscles, tendons, blood vessels and nerves.
“The patient has the most important role in the recovery process,” the hospital notes, and Boyd may have some advantages: Younger patients have better odds of regaining nerve function and feeling, and cleanly-cut limbs like her arm are more likely to recover. Doctors generally consider restoring 60% to 80% of function as an excellent outcome.
Community steps up to help a woman with ‘an undeniable spark’
Her community has stepped up to support her as well, with a GoFundMe that’s raised more than $50,000 so far.
“She radiates joy, warmth and inclusivity in and out of the water,” said photographer Amber Jenks, a friend who met Boyd through the local surf community. “She’s not just an incredible longboarder, but someone who genuinely lifts everyone around her.”
Jenks mentioned Boyd’s “undeniable spark,” and added, “Her recovery is something we’re all rooting for, every single day.”
Doctors haven’t given Boyd a date when she can be released, nor are they certain how much function can be restored to the arm. She’s has at least 18 months of physical and occupational therapy ahead, she said.
“The amount of support, donations, texts and messages, even from people I don’t know … all their positive words have kept me going,” she said.
Once she’s released from the hospital, she’s looking forward to getting back to as much normalcy as possible: all the things she’d done before the accident, like surfing and going to the beach, playing with her dog and hanging out with friends and family.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crowdfunding campaign aims to help surfer injured in train accident
