Colorado worker John O’Neill had both of his legs amputated after an accident with a wood chipper

A Colorado tree worker miraculously survived a freak wood chipper accident that left him losing both legs just minutes into his first day on the job.

John O’Neill, 33, who was wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor, was throwing branches into the machine when one caught the tracking device and pulled him into the chipper, according to the Denver Post.

O’Neill, who had battled addiction and is now sober and looking forward to his new job, had both of his legs amputated above the knee following the life-changing accident at 10:18 a.m. on September 24.

“It’s a miracle that John is still with us, and he’s fighting harder than ever,” O’Neill’s friend George Safir wrote on GoFundMe. “Our friend has always been pretty reckless and lived a life on the edge! And be a warrior in life.”

Just 15 minutes into Longmont’s workday, O’Neill grabbed a fishhook-shaped branch and threw it into the machine.

The end of the branch caught on O’Neil’s ankle monitor and pulled his leg into the spinning blades, where it began cutting into his toes, foot, ankle and legs.

None of O’Neill’s colleagues immediately heard his cries for help because they were all wearing hearing protection.

“It took my colleagues a minute to realize what was going on,” O’Neill told the outlet.

As the machine continued to eat into him, O’Neill began to believe his time was coming to an end.

“Something happened in my brain and I realized I was afraid of much more than just losing my leg or foot,” O’Neill said.

“The pain was a lot – it was almost not there,” he recalled. “I didn’t feel the pain as much because I knew I was in trouble. It went from a fight for my limbs to a fight for my life very quickly.”

O’Neill described the accident as “something that looked like what you see in movies” as he saw skin, bone, muscle and a lot of blood coming out of his legs.

O’Neill said he remained as still as possible to keep his heart rate down.

“I didn’t freak out, I stayed calm,” O’Neill said. “My colleague said I was very cognitive the whole time.”

A colleague pulled him out as the blade reached his mid-thigh, and O’Neill grabbed a nearby rope to apply a makeshift tourniquet.

He continued to lose consciousness, but thanked his colleagues for keeping him alive with sternum massages.

Police arrived at the scene and attached real veins to the rest of O’Neill’s legs before he was taken to a local hospital, where he was flown to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, just outside Denver.

During the helicopter ride, O’Neill “technically died,” he told the outlet, saying his heart stopped.

He “strongly believes” that the design of the ankle monitor was the reason he was unable to free himself from the wood chipper.

Doctors amputated the rest of O’Neill’s mangled legs and had to give him 15 liters of blood.

“They essentially replaced all the blood in my body,” he said.

When he woke up in his hospital room the next day, O’Neill called his mother, who was left “in such a panic” that she had to be hospitalized for three days, according to the Denver Post.

Among the many people and organizations O’Neill has reconnected with during his hospital stay is The Phoniex, the nonprofit organization that organizes “sober events and activities” to help people struggling with addiction have.

With the nonprofit, O’Neill hopes to continue his volunteer work and lead climbing and CrossFit events with the help of adaptive specialists.

“This is new territory and I can’t wait to dive into it because I feel like life is about to get more exciting. I’ve always enjoyed challenges,” he said.

O’Neill is “destroying his recovery faster than anyone else,” Safir said. “John is in very good spirits and ready to start climbing again.”