Woman Recounts Falling on Train Tracks, Losing Leg and Surviving [Video]

Lisa Fitzgerald was returning from dinner with family last month, just two weeks before her 30th birthday, when she slipped onto the train tracks and was struck by a passing train.

She lost her left leg but still managed to haul herself to safety.

Here, the New Yorker tells her story, to PEOPLE’s Brian Brant, in her own words.

On Saturday, May 4, I was visiting my brother, sister-in-law and niece for dinner in New Jersey.

We like to have an early dinner because my niece goes to bed early. It was about 7 p.m. local time, and I was headed back into the city. I decided to catch the New Jersey Transit train at the Morristown station.

While waiting for the train, I suddenly slipped or tripped and fell into the gap between the platform and the incoming train. As soon as I fell through, my leg instantly got cut off, and I was spun around and thrown.

I landed on my …