Los Angeles father Jordan Stannard recovering from leg amputation after saving 2-year-old daughter from Venice crash

VENICE, LOS ANGELES () — A father lost part of his leg while trying to save his 2-year-old daughter from an out-of-control driver in Venice.

Jordan Stannard said he was putting his daughter, Sadie, into the family’s car when a truck came speeding toward them at Venice Boulevard and Abbot Kinney Boulevard. He endured the impact of the crash, and his daughter was not harmed.

“If you told me, ‘You just have to trade your foot to be with your daughters for the rest of your life,’ that’s a trade that I would make all day long,” Stannard said.

He fought back tears reflecting on saving his daughter from the speeding vehicle.

“That is the most thing that I am thankful for. As I get further away from the accident, I’m just more and more thankful for that, because I can’t even begin the thought of what could have happened to her,” Stannard said.

Stannard said his family was leaving a grocery store a couple of weekends ago and walking back to their vehicle parked along the road when headlights came barreling toward him as he held his daughter.

“I literally just threw her into the car,” he recalled. “I remember the truck fully hitting my body and hitting me and twisting me around.”

The crash severely injured his left foot.

“It looked like I stepped on a bomb. It looked like I had stepped on a grenade or a bomb, and it looked like my foot was pretty much blown off,” Stannard said.

Doctors had to amputate part of his leg below the knee.

Stannard, 38, said the crash changed his once-active lifestyle, which included running marathons and playing with his daughters. Now, he is in rehabilitation and spends most days in bed.

His family launched a GoFundMe to support his recovery, which will include a prosthetic foot.

“I think the lesson that this has taught me is just how important it is to have friends and family that are going to support you when things are really tough,” Stannard said.

Stannard said he is grateful for the first responders who treated him at the scene. His goal is to run in next year’s Los Angeles Marathon.