A toddler whose feet had to be amputated after her father accidentally backed over her with a riding lawnmower left the hospital Saturday.
Ireland Nugent was cleared to leave Tampa General Hospital nearly a month after the April 11 accident.
The 2-year-old's father was driving a riding mower up the driveway of their Palm Harbor home when Ireland ran out from a backyard enclosure and got behind him. Nicole Nugent motioned for him to stop but he misinterpreted her signals and backed the mower up, running over the toddler.
Ireland underwent seven surgeries and will be fitted for prosthetic feet in the coming weeks.
Jerry Nugent said his daughter was laughing and giggling in the hospital room as she got ready to go home. She wore a yellow dress and pink sunglasses and had a stuffed animal of Winter, the dolphin with a prosthetic tail, in her wheelchair.
The toddler's father said he was expecting a big crowd to greet her when they got home.
"She's just going to be so elated to see everyone there. I can't wait for that," Jerry Nugent said. "It's hard for me to envision. I'm happy and sad with what my daughter lost and how the family's going to come together. But I think we're going to do it. We made it here, we transitioned here, and made it work."
