A 6-year-old girl, whose hand was severed when it was caught in a ring of jump rope that had caught on the axle of her mother's car, has returned home with her arm re-attached.

The little girl from Los Gatos, Calif., Erica Rix, suffered the horrific accident in early September. The surgery took 10 hours and she had to spend nine days in intensive care before doctors said she could return home.

The girl was playing in the back seat of the car with a jump rope. The accident occurred after she left one of the rope’s ends out the window.

"I wanted to see it go up and down because I thought I was going to fly," she said Tuesday on NBC's "Today."

Unfortunately, the jump rope snagged on the axle of the SUV and a loop formed at the other end of the rope caught Erica’s hand and detached it from her body. Her mother recounted that her little daughter was screaming real loud and, after she stopped the car, she realized what had happened.

The mother, Allison Rix, was helped by a passing motorist (Jim Bailey, of Saratoga) who made a tourniquet in order to stop the severe bleeding.

“Just like a superhero, I like to think of him …he whipped out his belt and did a tourniquet," the mother said while trying to call 911, The Associated Press reported.

The panicked mother was also helped by a passer-by who called emergency services. Her cell phone got disconnected. Another passer-by directed traffic around the girl’s severed arm with the jump rope still on it.

"I took some real deep breaths. I just kept telling myself 'This is a child's hand,'" the passer-by told Mercury News.

Four surgeons took part at the 10-hour operation to re-attach Erica’s arm. She is still in the recovery period and she is expected to be fine.