Five months ago, Sarah Lengsfierd's life changed when she had an accident in her garden.

The Fashion Floor manager at Jarrold in Norwich was finishing off mowing the garden on August 16 when the grass box came loose.

But as Mrs Lengsfierd went to empty it, her left hand was pulled in.

Mrs Lengsfierd, who lives in Southburgh with her husband Michael, daughter Spencer, 16 and son Heller, 12, said: 'I was in shock and could not believe what happened. I ran into the house to the sink, trying to keep the blood from dripping.'

Her husband called the ambulance service but the paramedics could only administer low strength pain killers so they called the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

The 47-year-old added: 'I was in shock so didn't notice I had lost my thumb and my other fingers were just flaps of skin. But then the pain was throbbing and it became unbearable.

'The air ambulance brought such calm and gave me some strong pain killers and they told me what was happening and made everything bearable.'

Mrs Lengsfierd spent 12 hours in surgery, but lost her thumb and the top halves of her fingers. She was in hospital for 13 days and off work until November when she started back three days a week before returning full time on January 5.

Staff at the Norwich store were so shocked by their colleague's injuries that they decided they would fundraise for the East Anglian Air Ambulance because of the help they gave Mrs Lengsfierd.

The store raised £3,500 for the charity and along with her Jarrold colleagues the mother-of-two presented a cheque to the staff who helped her on the day and to update them on her recovery.

And the retail worker hasn't let her injuries stop her getting on with things.

'Everyone heals in their own time but I have two young children and I couldn't be a mum at home depressed. I'm getting the confidence to except how my hand looks.

'I have a moment of frustration when I can't clutch things because I haven't got my thumb. But this is me and there isn't much I can't do.'

Mrs Lengsfierd still goes to a physiotherapist every two weeks and will be seeing a leading prophetic specialist in February about getting a prophetic thumb.

Have you, like Sarah, been involved in an accident and have got a story to tell? Email rebecca.murphy@archant.co.uk