Ellie Spence described the terrifying moment when she almost died after impaling herself on a huge spiked gate.
The Love Islander, 25, opened up on Instagram about her near-death experience on Wednesday, showing some graphic images of her injuries after a drunken night out went all wrong.
The beauty, who was 18 at the time, said that when she returned to a friend’s house at 3am, she impaled herself on a nail – which had embedded itself 3mm from a major artery.
The business development manager, who came into the villa like a bombshell, explained: ‘Around this time, just before the summer, when I was 18, I impaled myself on a steel gate with spears and nearly killed myself accidentally.
“I had just passed my finals and me and one of my best friends Livvy went out for a night, we got back to her house early in the morning and the gate in front of her house was locked.
‘I just knew I was about to die’: Ellie Spence took to Instagram on Wednesday to describe the terrifying moment when she almost died after impaling herself on a huge spiked fence
Shocked: The Love Islander, 25, opened up about her near-death experience, showing some graphic images of her injuries after a drunken night out went all wrong
“After climbing through the gate and reaching the top, I put my foot on the bar between the spears, my foot slipped and one of the spears impaled me directly in the joint of my leg.
“I somehow turned around and found myself hanging back off the fence, 10 feet in the air.”
She revealed that her friend “had no idea she was impaled” because of the darkness and she kept passing out from the pain and blood loss.
Ellie admitted that she “knew she was about to die” and gave up when a “voice” started screaming at her to wake up.
The reality star continued, “I could barely get my words out of the pain and panic I was in and Livvy had no idea I was nailed to a stake.
“After 10 minutes of miscommunication with each other in complete darkness, my leg was torn from the front of my joint to the back of my buttocks.
“I started to pass out from the pain, the blood loss and mentally accepting the fact that I just knew I was about to die.
“I gave up and hung up in silence and after a few minutes I suddenly heard a voice screaming in my ear to get up, get up, get up repeatedly (I didn’t recognize the voice) and I saw a bright white light (FYI I’m not an overly spiritual person so this is still crazy to me to this day)
Horrifying: The beauty, who was 18 at the time, said when she returned to a friend’s house at 3 a.m. that she had impaled herself on a nail – 3mm from a major artery
‘I would have bled to death’: She revealed that her friend had ‘no idea she was impaled’ due to the darkness and she continued to pass out from the pain and blood loss before finally being rushed to hospital
She explained: ‘I was rushed to hospital and told I was 3mm away from my main artery so another little tear I would have bled and died hanging from the fence’
“I woke up right then and out of the blue started directing Livvy perfectly and she luckily got me off the gate.”
If the nail had entered Ellie’s artery, it would have been advisable not to remove her leg from the nail until the medics arrived to avoid catastrophic blood loss.
Ellie was immediately rushed to hospital and told she had missed her main artery by 3mm.
She added: ‘I was rushed to hospital and told I was 3mm away from my main artery, so another little tear I would have bled and died hanging from the fence.
“Livvy is my true life angel and she saved my life that day. Coming to terms with narrowly escaping death is a feeling I will never really be able to put into words and the long recovery that followed really made me realize how lucky I am to be given a second chance to experience life .’
In addition to describing what happened to herself when she was 18, Ellie shared a number of snaps, including two of her gruesome wounds and stitches.
She also uploaded two incredible bikini snapshots posing in the ocean while donning a striking orange and yellow bikini that showed off her scars on her leg and buttocks.
Ellie opened up about body confidence in the post, telling her 82.5k followers that she doesn’t always feel like she’s bikini-ready, but her “scar will always be there.”
She wrote, “I know with summer coming up it’s a discouraging time for anyone who doesn’t feel ready in their body, but my scar will always be there, so no matter how comfortable or uncomfortable I feel at the time in my body, I’ve had to learn that my body will always be ready.
“I’ve really had a sense of self-confidence all my life, as most of us women do with constantly changing body trends and standards that we’re pressured to conform to.”
Stunning: She also uploaded two incredible bikini photos as she posed in the ocean donning a striking orange and yellow two-piece two-piece suit that showed off her scars on her leg and buttocks
“But it’s SO normal to have a lump or bump or stretch marks or whatever.”
She went on to share how a nurse told her she would “never wear a bikini again” if she got her stitches out.
Ellie said she was “so focused on being able to walk again” that she “rolled her eyes” and was just thankful she was alive.
She added, “Looking back at just 18 years old, those words clearly had more of an effect on me than I ever cared to admit before.
“However, I’ve learned never to let anything stop me and I think it’s so important that your body doesn’t stop you from enjoying not just this summer, but the rest of your life!!”
Ellie concluded the post by telling fans to feel as confident as possible and to get out there and enjoy life because “it’s so short and incredibly precious.”
Previously speaking on the Secure the Insecure podcast, Ellie revealed, “It was the scariest night of my life and a night I will never, ever forget. It has completely shaped who I am.’
She spoke candidly further, “I pretty much hung it off backwards and ripped the front of my leg up to the back of my buttocks and I just tore my leg all the way off.”
Near-death experience: Ellie went on to share how a nurse told her she would “never wear a bikini again” when she took out her stitches. Ellie said she was ‘so focused on being able to walk again’ that she ‘rolled her eyes’ and was just thankful she was alive
“I remember hanging out there in so much pain. So panicked. I mean, the adrenaline is flowing, like I’m disoriented, I just think, I’m going to die. And I was like, I’m just going to die.
“Everything went through my head, like my mom and dad should actually bury me right now, I can’t believe I did this.”
She continued, “And I just gave up, I just stopped responding to my best friend Livy, who I literally owe my life to her. And I just stopped responding’.
“And I just lay there, I just kept getting my leg ripped. And I yeah, I just lay there and I was like ‘yeah I’m going to die’.
Ellie was dropped from the ITV2 series after viewers voted her and Jordan Odofin as the least compatible couple.