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Minnesota girl, 10, improving after being hit in face by lawnmower blade

A 10-year-old Minnesota girl is recovering nicely after being hit in the face by a chunk of a blade from a riding mower last month.

A 10-year-old Minnesota girl continues to improve after she was hit with a piece of a lawnmower blade last month.

"It kind of felt like I got hit by a dodgeball," said Skylar Hedstrom, who wound up with a 4-inch scar running from her forehead down the right side of her nose after the June 9 incident, The Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minnesota, reported.

Brian Hedstrom was cutting grass on his riding mower at his farm in Kensington, Minnesota, when he hit a metal tool.

"A chunk of the blade, about 4 inches by 2 inches, came off and went under the deck of the mower," Hedstrom told the Pioneer Press. The scary thing is, it flew up and out the back of the mower," he said.

Skylar was standing behind and to the right of her father with her stepmother and a family friend when she was hit.

“My wife came running up to me, waving her arms and screaming, pointing to (Skylar),” Hedstrom told the newspaper. “I jumped off (the mower), turned around and she was standing there, covered in blood. It was the scariest thing I’ve seen in my whole life.”

Hedstrom was not sure of the severity of Skylar's wound until he removed a rag that had been put on her forehead and saw her skull, the Pioneer Press reported.

Kensington Fire Chief Joey Nessman said he was impressed how Skylar remained calm.

"I knew it wasn't life-threatening. She was extremely, extremely lucky. It could have been worse," Nessman told the Pioneer Press. "The concern was, this poor girl, what's going to happen? But she was so grown up. For a 10-year-old, she acted very grown up."

Skylar was taken to a trauma center in Fargo, North Dakota, where she received nearly 200 stitches. Only 30 were visible on the outside of the girl’s face, however.

"The cranial doctor glued (her face) back together," Hedstrom told the Pioneer Press. "That's what he told me. He said he glued it together."

Skylar was home the day after the incident. Her outside stitches were removed a week later, and the inside ones dissolved, Hedstrom said.

Hedstrom said that from now on, he will check the lawn before cutting the grass.

"Be the person who checks the tall grass," Hedstrom told the Pioneer Press. "Be the person who picks up sticks. Be that person. Be safe."