The mother of the toddler severely injured in a lawn mower accident in Palm Harbor spoke about the accident Thursday afternoon.

Nicole Nugent's 2-year-old daughter Ireland remains at Tampa General Hospital after having both feet severed at the ankle and a hand injured Wednesday. She has already had two of four surgeries, one of those was to clean her wounds and the other was to treat her injured hand.

When asked how Nugent is holding up she said “I’m okay, I have to be okay for my daughter. She needs me more than I need to be sad right now. She does not know what’s happening right now.”

As for how her husband is doing, Nugent said, "He’s not holding up as best as I am."

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the father, Jeremiah Nugent, was outside backing the lawn mower down the driveway in the West Lake Village Subdivision around 7:30 p.m. when the accident happened.

Officials said the father had just finished cutting the grass and was preparing to park the mower in the garage when his wife came out of the home waving at him.

He thought his wife was alerting him that he was about to drive over something and he responded by putting the tractor in reverse, officials said. He continued to back up the tractor and ran over the child, who had fallen down in the driveway behind him.

"I am questioning why it had to be her,” said Ireland’s mother. Asking, “Why it wasn't me."

Nugent said the girl was running to her daddy.

"He couldn’t hear her because the lawn mower was going," she said. 

He immediately turned off the mower and jumped off. The parents immediately called 911 and the child was transported by air to Tampa General Hospital.

Her father held his baby until a neighbor stepped in.

"She saved my daughter's life," said Nugent about her neighbor, Aly Smith, whose first instinct, she says, was to run next door when she heard those cries for help.

"I turned around and I looked and it was one of the saddest, scariest things I've ever seen," said Smith, remembering those painful moments right after the accident.

She says she put pressure on Ireland’s legs while asking Ireland about her sisters and her puppy and waiting for the ambulance which, seemed like she says, an eternity.

"I just did what came natural to me and I really didn't think about my nurse's training,” said Smith. “It was trying to keep her calm and still."

Neighbors said they heard the parents yelling.

"It's one thing when you watch things on TV or in a movie, but it's totally different when you see someone you knew personally.  It's an awful experience," said neighbor Oleksandr Ryasnskry.

On Thursday, Ireland’s mother said she already sees progress.

"When I put my hand in her hand, she is definitely squeezing my hand and realize that I'm there and listens to my voice," said Nugent.

They are baby steps on the road to recovery, Ireland’s mother says, as her baby begins to slowly heal.

"This is not going to stop Ireland,” said Nugent. “Of all the children in the world, it will not stop my daughter." Later going on to say, “if anybody's going to get through this, it will be her."

“She is just full of personality. She will tell you what she wants when she wants it," she said. "We can fix her legs. She will walk and run again and be just as spunky as before."

Doctors are giving Ireland pain medication and must endure breathing tubes and a feeding tube to keep her comfortable.

The next surgery, officials say, is slated for Saturday morning and after that, the hope if for a fourth and final surgery on Monday to completely close the wounds.

Ireland has three other siblings in the home ages 5, 9, and 11. The couple also has two other adult children.

Ireland's church has set up a fund for her.

You can contact the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Clearwater or you can always log on to their website, if you would like to help out.