A New York 4-year-old lost his foot in a freak lawn mower accident that nearly cut his life short.
Joey Marsico was playing in the yard as his grandfather, Mark DeLuca, was mowing the lawn.
"I saw my husband on the other side of the pool mowing, and he started backing up and all of a sudden I saw Joey shoot out from around the pool. And I knew it wasn't going to be good at that point," the boy's grandmother, Valerie DeLuca, tells Inside Edition.
"The first thing he said to me when he was still on the ground right after I had got off the tractor was, 'I'm sorry, Papa.' That was tough," Mark says.
Joey was airlifted from his home in upstate New York to Boston Children's Hospital.
Doctor's had to amputate his right foot.
"It didn't phase me for probably the first six hours or so until he came out. What had transpired was permanent and that this was going to be a life-altering event," Joey's father, Joe, says.
What happened to Joey was not an isolated incident, which is why Joey's parents decided to speak out.
Around 100,000 children are injured each year in lawn mower accidents, according to the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center.
Home safety expert Jason Cameron tells Inside Edition adults need to stay alert.
"You start talking to me, I can't hear you, especially with [the lawn mower] running. So while I'm doing the mowing, I also want to completely scan constantly while I'm mowing to make sure there's nobody else around me," Cameron says.
After nearly a month in the hospital, Joey is making steady progress in his recovery.
The young boy says he had to get used to using a wheelchair.
Joey's parents praise his positive outlook.
"For me, he's just such an amazing kid, and I think it's important to show people that if this tiny little boy can do this, anybody can do anything," Joey's mother, Keirsten, says.
Joey will soon be fitted with the prosthesis and undergo physical therapy.
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