A couple of weeks ago, a strange and unusual jump-accident involving a six-year-old girl happened. Erica Rix of Los Gatos was riding in the back of her mother’s SUV with one end of her jump rope enfolded around her wrist when the other end dangled from the window, got caught in one of the car’s wheels and led the little girl’s hand being sliced off.

"I heard a thunk and thought, 'What was that?' " Erika’s mother, Allison Rix, said Sunday. The girl instantly started screaming. Allison, 32, pulled over and couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the blood flowing from her daughter’s wrist.

"She was screaming and screaming, so I got out of the car and out the window that was cracked, (was) the remaining part of her hand," Erica’s mother, Allison Rix told the TV station. "I screamed and said, 'Where's her hand?'"

A passerby found the girl’s hand, which had the jump rope still attached. Motorist Gail Andrews explained how he saw Allison getting out of the vehicle and shouting “Please help me, my baby, my baby." Andrews knew that, when dialing 911 from a cell phone, it may take a while until reaching local dispatchers. Therefore, she called the Los Gatos police direct emergency number, which she had programmed into her cell-phone, according to San Jose Mercury News. Afterwards, Andrews stood near the hand and impeded cars from hitting it.

A driver, who realized an accident occurred, stopped his car to be of assistance. He employed his belt to make a tourniquet around Erica’s arm before an ambulance took her to the hospital. "It was a terrible sight,'' 48-year-old Jim Bailey of Saratoga said. If it wasn’t for him, to "whip off his belt like a superhero," maybe the girl wouldn’t have been safe now. She was taken to Erica to Valley Medical Center in San Jose but after that she was airlifted to Stanford.

Four hand specialists reattached the hand in a surgery that lasted no less than 10 hours. Thanks to them, the girl’s life and hand were saved. She remained in intensive care for a period of 9 days.

According to doctors, she may regain movement and function of the hand in the long run. More surgeries must be performed on her tendons and nerves. The girl will also have to undergo physical therapy to help her ease pain and resume daily activities.

Currently, the girl is home, recovering, taking visits from family members and friends. Following the surgical procedure, she was depressed for several days “but now she's back at full energy," her mother said.

"I couldn't make sense of what happened,'' said Allison Rix, who was on the way back home from soccer practice at the time the accident happened. She believes her daughter’s life was saved due to the driver who stopped to help.