It was during a Bank Holiday weekend in May of last year, that Victoria Milligan and her family were struck by tragedy. One that might have been avoided if only her husband, Nick, had remembered to re-attach his 'kill cord'.
The couple and their four children were vacationing at their second home near Padstow when they decided to take the speedboat out for a ride along the River Camel.
Nick Milligan had disconnected himself from the 'kill cord' - a precaution that attaches the driver to the ignition key so that the engine will cut out should he ever fall - in order to get his sunglasses and play around with the children. Mrs. Milligan remembers how his question of 'Who wants to go round again?' was met 'with glee'.
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As they headed back out of the estuary, Mr. Milligan increased their speed before his hand slipped on the steering wheel, flinging the entire family in to the water.
"The boat began racing away from us before starting a high–speed tight turn to come back at us," Mrs. Milligan recalls the terrible moment. "I have never felt more helpless. My family was in extreme danger. There was nothing I could do."
"When the boat came around a second time, we were just outside the circle, and I felt the hull hit my chest. But what I didn't feel was the propeller cutting my leg.
"There was a lot of blood in the water and my left leg was hanging off above the ankle.
"I remember my 12–year–old Amber in the water screaming, 'Daddy's dead, Daddy's dead', her face covered in blood from her injured hand."
Both her husband and 8 year old, Emily, were unable to avoid the boat's dangerous path and sharp propeller blades. Victoria ended up losing her leg while 4 year old, Kit, came away with severe leg injuries and 11 year old, Olivia, only suffered a bump on the head.
The boats terrifying path was brought to halt by a watersports instructor, Charlie Toogood, who managed to jump aboard from his own.
"I hate to admit it," she said. "But I wished it had been me that had been killed. Now I know I am the lucky one as I get to see our children grow up. I know that I will never fully get over what has happened to me. But I also know that the only way my children and I will have a future is by working our way through the pain of grief."
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"We still feel like we're a family of six but with two missing. We talk about them every day and are starting to be able to laugh about silly things they did and enjoy happy memories together."
Victoria has devoted herself to a number of charities since recovering from the tragedy, raising more than £750,000 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Child Bereavement UK and Cornwall Air Ambulance, with the latter naming a helicopter in memory of Nick and Emily.
See how she and the remaining family member have found a way to go on since the tragic accident: