LOVE Island’s Ellie Spence revealed the terrifying moment she nearly died after almost impaling herself on a 60ft spiked gate.
The 25-year-old influencer who appeared on this year’s winter show nearly tore her leg off after a drunken night out went very, very wrong.
Ellie Spence tore the skin from the front of her thigh to her bottom in a freak accident
Ellie shared photos of her wounds with fans as she encouraged them to love their bodies
Ellie was out with her best friend Livvy when she was 18 after finishing her exams and when they got back to her friends house, they realised that they couldn’t get into the house.
She explained that her friend had just moved into the mansion, which was surrounded by a “sixty foot” fence with spears at the top.
With both of their phones dead, and in their drunken state, both girls attempted to climb over the gate to let themselves in.
However, Ellie ended up slipping and ended up with one of the spikes going through her leg – tearing the skin from the front of her leg to her bottom.
“After climbing the gate and reaching the top, I put my foot on the bar in between the spears, my foot slipped and one of the spears impaled me directly in the joint of my leg,” she said.
“I somehow spun around and found myself hanging backwards off the gate, 10ft in the air.”
She said how at that moment she “knew” she was going to die from the sheer loss of blood from her limb.
“I could barely get my words out from the pain and panic I was in and Livvy had no idea I was impaled,” she explained.
“After 10 minutes of miscommunicating with each other in complete darkness, my leg had torn from the very front of my joint to the back of my bum.
“I started to pass out from the pain, loss of blood and mentally coming to terms with the fact I just knew I was about to die.”
However, Ellie believes that she was saved by a spiritual being, who “screamed at her” to wake up after she had “given up”.
“I gave up and hung in silence and after a few minutes, I suddenly heard a voice screaming in my ear to get up, get up, get up repeatedly (I didn’t recognise the voice).
“I saw a bright white light (FYI I am not an overly spiritual person so this is still crazy to me to this day) I then immediately woke up and out of nowhere started perfectly directing Livvy and she thankfully got me off the gate,” she wrote.
Speaking about her brush with death, she said: “I was rushed to hospital and told I was 3mm away from my main artery so just one more tiny tear I would have bled out and died hanging on the gate. Livvy is my real life angel and she saved my life that day.
“Coming to terms with very narrowly escaping death is a feeling I’ll never truly be able to put into words and the long recovery that followed really really made me appreciate how lucky I am to be given a second chance at experiencing life.”
Ellie shared a few photos of her in a bikini, with her scar on show, along with some other pictures of the stitches she had following surgery.
However, she also said how she was told by the nurse when she got her stitches out that there would be “no more beach holidays or bikinis”.
She said how at the time she was so focused on being able to walk again and recover mentally that she took the comment on the chin.
But upon reflection, she said that the comment had an effect on her – which she hadn’t wanted to admit before.
“I think it’s so important to not let your body hold you back from enjoying not just this summer but the rest of your life!!” she said.
She was praised by fans for her courage and for telling her story.
“Absolutely inspirational. I have a scar going from the bottom of my neck to halfway down my belly from heart disease and sometimes I feel self conscious about it, but we have to wear our scars with pride, it shows what we’ve overcome,” one follower wrote.
“so glad you’re still here and sharing these messages,” another added.
“Beautiful girl, beautiful scar x” a third chimed.
Her post encouraged others to share their own stories and speak about scars they have on their bodies.
“This is so amazing. I have a scar on my thigh from slipping down the side of a drain and I hate having it out thankyou for giving me confidence,” another wrote.
She said how she ‘saw a bright white light’ moments before waking up