When You See What Doctors Extracted From Her Face You Will Freak Out

#1 It was just a normal day for Karla Flores. The mother of three was selling seafood on a street of Culiacán, in the state of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico. It was an extremely hot day and she was working hard when she suddenly heard a loud bang. When Karla turned to look, something hit her in the face. Bleeding profusely, she collapsed onto the pavement. A passerby luckily came to her aid and immediately rushed her to hospital.

#2 Karla was badly injured and severely in need of medical attention. Luckily, the doctors were able get her into a stable condition but there was still the small matter of the huge object lodged in her face. The object had gone all the way through her jaw. Doctors decided that she would need an x-ray before they knew what it was. But when the possibility of this being any sort of live explosive was raised, they called in the big guns.

#3 Upon seeing the x-rays, a military specialist confirmed that it was the head of an unexploded grenade – making Karla a walking (but not quite talking) time-bomb. The sound she had heard at the time of the incident was that of a grenade launcher being fired. The grenade had soared through the air and eventually hit Karla in the face just as she had turned to look.

#4 Had the grenade exploded, it would’ve killed everyone within a 32-foot radius. Needless to say, the extraction of the object had to be completed extremely carefully. Even the slightest movement could set it off. The hospital had no choice but to put the welfare of others first. They isolated Karla before deciding what should be done.

#5 Four brave medical team members volunteered to operate: two anaesthetists, Felipe Ortiz y Cristina Soto, Dr. Lidia Soto and Nurse Rodrigo Arredondo. To limit potential damage, she was operated on in the middle of a field and joined by two explosives experts from the Mexican army.

#6 Not only did Karla have to have a tracheotomy and breathe through her neck so they could complete the operation, but she was also wide awake! Only given local anaesthetic, she was fully aware of what was going on throughout. Luckily, the operation was pulled off without a hitch. Or a loud boom.

What ensued was three more years of surgery. Karla lost half her teeth and is deformed by the scar. However, in Mexico she is now known as the ‘Miracle Woman'. Having survived what might be the world's longest near-death experience, I think Karla is an absolute trooper. It's thought that the cartel may be responsible for Karla's terrible ordeal. And incidents like this are probably going to become far more frequent now the world's biggest drug lord has escaped from prison.