Pennsylvania man James Valentine, 21, cut it close after a chainsaw blade entered his neck missing a vital artery by a mere centimeter, according to a doctor Tuesday.
They seem to make’em a bit tougher in Pittsburgh than the rest of the country, but in reality, we just have a knack for putting the strangest stories on the news (generally with one or two people interviewed wearing local sports paraphernalia). This story of a man surviving a chainsaw to the neck might top them all, though. Twenty-one-year-old James Valentine showed up with a chainsaw stuck in his neck, a mere 1/4-inch from his carotid artery. After the tool kicked back and almost took off his head, coworkers rushed him in holding it steady until hospital personal could take over. Valentine was on his job with Adler Tree Service in Gibsonia, north of Pittsburgh, and was performing maintenance work on a pine tree when the chainsaw “kicked back,” Valentine’s sister, Becca Valentine said. The blade sawed into flesh instead of wood. Valentine’s co-workers were able to detach the blade from its motor, but they left the blade and chain where it was — in Valentine, about a quarter of an inch from the carotid artery that supplies blood to the head — and they held the blade in place until emergency responders arrived. On the ambulance ride to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Valentine was awake and alert, according to hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Davis. The hospital’s director of trauma, Dr. Christine Toevs, said the trauma unit had 10 minutes to prepare — to get ready for a man coming up with a chainsaw blade in his neck. “We prepare for the worst. The unit expects the injuries to be catastrophic,” she said of trauma work in general. Toevs said this kind of injury could usually cause major damage or sever the spinal cord, esophagus, or the airway. Instead, Valentine sustained most of his injuries to muscles and soft tissue around the shoulder, rather than his neck. After Valentine was stabilized and anesthetized, doctors removed the blade. There was no major blood loss; the blade had missed that vital carotid artery by a mere centimeter, Toevs said. Following surgery and thirty stitches, he’s already up and able to speak about the experience. If this guy isn’t a survivor, we don’t know who is! By Tom Retterbush SOURCE Cutting it close: Pa. man survives accident that put chainsaw into his neck http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/01/us/chainsaw-accident-survivor/index.html
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