A Canadian woman credits her breast implants with saving her life after surviving a gunshot wound that could have hit her chest cavity and damaged vital organs.

Eileen Likness, from Calvary, Canada, testified in court about the experience and against her ex-boyfriend Fernando Chora.

She says that she had been driving Chora around for hours in 2006 when she became tired. She pulled over into a side street to let him get out of the car. According to Likness, Chora emerged from the car, walked a few steps, then turned and fired two shots from a 9-millimeter gun.

Likness says that Chora shot at her at point-blank range. The bullet went through her right arm, grazed her chest cavity, shot through her two breast implants, and emerged on the other side, hitting her left arm.

Likness bolted from the vehicle, which was still running, and ran to an area restaurant in order to receive help. She was later airlifted to a nearby hospital for her injuries.

The incident destroyed her silicone implants, but she thanks them because she says that "they received the brunt of the force".

Without them, she says that she would likely have suffered serious injuries or even death.

Likness was so certain about the fact that her implants prevented the situation from becoming far worse that she had new ones put in after the experience.

She says that she had to wait some time, but nonetheless they were replaced.

Fernando Chora is presently on trial for attempted murder, aggravated assault, and weapons charges related to the incident. He is also standing trial for breaking into the home of an elderly couple, immediately following the incident with Likness, and holding them at gunpoint.

Likness is not the first woman who has credited breast implants with saving her life. In an even more extreme example, one 24-year-old Israeli woman said that implants saved her when rocket shrapnel struck her chest during the 2006 conflict with Lebanon.