HAMPSTEAD — Doctors at Boston Children's Hospital have amputated 13-year-old Paige Welch's arm several inches below the elbow after an Aug. 16 boating accident off Port-au-Spain, Trinidad, according to her father, Clarke Welch.

Paige, who will be in eighth grade at Hampstead Middle School, will be in the hospital at least two more weeks and is facing additional surgery, her father said. It's uncertain yet how much of her arm can be saved, he said.

Paige and her mother, Raquel Welch, 40, were visiting relatives in the Caribbean when the accident occurred. They were kayaking with a relative near Scotland Bay, off the Chaguaramas Peninsula, when a 28-foot speedboat rammed them.

The impact flung them into the water and split the kayak in half. Her mother suffered lacerations on her back and arm injuries. She was treated in a hospital in Trinidad. She returned home last week and has been able to visit Paige.

"She is walking with the assistance of a cane," Clarke Welch said.

Raquel Welch's nephew, Lance Aqui, 23, owned the kayak. He was riding atop the craft and guiding it when the accident happened. Aqui suffered a broken ankle and cut tendon, but he saved Paige's life, Welch said. Aqui was studying to be a rescue diver, Clarke Welch said, and he put his training to work.

"She was on her way to the bottom in 30 feet of water," Welch said. "He had a crushed ankle and a severed Achilles tendon, but he dove down, plugged up her artery and brought her up. I don't know how. If it wasn't for him, I would be at a funeral instead of a hospital."

Paige's arm was nearly severed. Doctors in Trinidad performed surgery to reattach the arm. Welch said the doctors did their best to save his daughter's arm.

Paige underwent her fifth surgery Friday, her father said, as doctors decided to amputate 4 to 6 inches below the elbow.

"My daughter is very stoic," he said. "She's excruciatingly intelligent. When her mother and I sat down to explain what was going to happen, she said, 'I kind of figured. So, it's only my hand and I'm alive.'"

In a telephone interview Saturday, Clarke Welch recalled the ordeal of bringing Paige back to Boston for medical treatment.

"Aug. 16, I received a call from my sister-in-law around 3:30 or 4 p.m., saying they had been in a serious boating accident," he said. "I climbed on the first plane."

Welch reached the hospital 24 hours later and saw his wife and daughter.

"They were very badly banged up," he said. "Paige asked me when she could come home."

The surgeon, who was trained in Albany, N.Y., explained the medical facts, he said. Welch started working on a way to bring his family home. At 6:30 the next morning, the surgeon talked to Welch again and said it was urgent to move Paige to a U.S. hospital.

Welch contacted the U.S. Embassy for help. Ultimately, he hired an air ambulance to fly Paige out of Trinidad. The flight cost $32,000, which he had to put on his credit card.

The air ambulance, a Lear jet, left Trinidad at 1 a.m. with Clarke, a pilot, co-pilot and paramedic aboard. Paige was on a stretcher for the whole flight, and her vital signs were being monitored.

"My daughter's a rock," he said. "We knew things were not good, but we didn't know how bad they were."

The air ambulance landed in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., changed crews and headed for Logan International Airport.

By 8 a.m., they landed in Boston and rushed Paige to the emergency room, where doctors immediately gave her two units of blood to stabilize her.

"They said it did not look good for her keeping her hand," he said. "They diligently tried to save as much of her left arm as possible."

Welch said Paige's condition has improved, but the doctors still don't know how much of her arm can be saved. He said Paige has received hundreds of flowers from well-wishers.

"We counted them," he said. "We're running out of room. Please don't send anymore flowers or stuffed bears."

But cards are welcome.

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How to Help

The family needs help paying Paige's medical bills. To donate, make a check payable to the Account for Paige Welch, c/o Seacoast Credit Union, P.O. Box 1027, Exeter, NH 03833.

Cards can be mailed to Paige Welch at Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115.