Bodycon dress saves life of graduate after horrifying Christmas car crash
It’s the best £35 she’s ever spent
A partygoer survived an horrific crash in her taxi thanks to her skin-tight bodycon dress – which stopped her bones piercing her internal organs.
University graduate Zoe Turner, 21, splashed out £34.99 on the little red dress from online retailer Missguided and squeezed into it for a festive bash.
But disaster struck when her cab home was hit by a cement mixer which left Zoe and her three friends with life-threatening injuries.
Incredibly, doctors told Zoe that her bodycon dress was so tight it acted like an old-fashioned corset and stopped her bones popping out and perforating her vital organs.
They said she could have suffered fatal internal injuries if she wasn’t wearing such a tight garment.
Zoe said: “I couldn’t believe my dress saved my life. That’s the best £35 I’ve ever spent.
“Although I didn’t come off lightly, the end result could have been a lot worse.
“I was in unimaginable pain. My body was aching and I just remember thinking – I have to get my belt off.
“The pain and restriction my dress was causing was unbearable and I stumbled out of the car.
“The doctors told me that if I hadn’t worn such a tight dress which held in place my bones as the car impacted, I would have most definitely punctured vital organs as my bones went out of place.”
Zoe had slipped on the figure-hugging midi dress to attend her 44-year-old mum’s work Christmas do at Leeds United’s Elland Road football ground on December 13.
She got a taxi with a group of pals at 2.55am on December 14 for the 35 minute journey home to Wakefield, West Yorks.
But shortly into the ride a cement truck careered into the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Zoe, who was due to start a job in care but has had to put it on hold, was in the front passenger’s seat wearing a seatbelt but her three friends in the back were not strapped in.
The driver’s head went through the front window and her three friends were left unconscious in the back seat.
Firefighters arrived within five minutes and cut open the vehicle to free the injured passengers.
Zoe was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary where she was sent for a C.T. scan and given a brace to hold her pelvis together, along with morphine.
She had multiple injuries including a fractured pelvis, fractured vertebra and broke sternum.
“I thought everyone else was dead,” she said. “I was in so much shock I didn’t realise how serious my injuries were.
“I laid in the hospital bed unable to move my legs. I was so scared, I didn’t know if I’d be able to walk again. I just wanted my parents there – the pain was piercing.”
The driver of the taxi suffered a broken neck and her friends survived with broken arms, eye sockets and pelvis.
After five days in hospital, on Thursday 18th December, Zoe was released to go home just in time for Christmas.
Zoe added: “My mum took me home in her car. My wounds were starting to heal and I was able to walk a lot more than I had been able too.
“But getting in the car was the hardest thing. When my mum put on the brakes I literally broke down crying.
“I am lucky to be alive, the thought of not having worn that dress makes me shudder.
“That £35 was honestly the best I’ve ever spent. I’ll never forget that red dress – It’s just a shame it didn’t survive too!”