Pinned under a tree, 66-year-old man amputates own leg

[n2doc]

Pinned under a tree, 66-year-old man amputates own leg
Wednesday, June 6, 2007


(06-06) 13:28 PDT IOWA HILL, Calif. (AP) --
Residents are pulling for a neighbor who was forced to amputate his left leg below the knee using pocket knives after a tree fell on him, pinning him for about 11 hours.
Al Hill, 66, was cutting trees on a property near the Big Dipper Mine last Friday when a tree fell on his leg and trapped him, authorities said. Alone in the woods and in an area where cellular phone service is spotty or nonexistent, Hill was forced to take the extreme measure to save himself.
Eventually, a neighbor in the area heard Hill's cries for help. Eric Bookey declined to talk about the events.
"Only me, Al and God were there that day," he said.
Bookey had to go nearly two miles to get a cellular signal and make an emergency call, which came in to the all-volunteer fire department about 7:30 p.m., Iowa Hill Fire Chief Luana Dowling told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Bookey and a neighbor loaded Hill into a truck and took him to an emergency landing site in town, where a helicopter met them and took him to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, where he underwent amputation surgery, Dowling said.
She said it was hard to believe Hill didn't go into shock.

more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/06/state/n132845D67.DTL

[MissB]

1. That must've hurt. A lot.

[cwydro]

2. Well, on the face of it, this reminds me

of the guy who cut his own arm off when trapped by a boulder in a canyon. His name escapes me right noe, but he has a book out. But a LEG? With a POCKETKNIFE?

Christ.

[Omphaloskepsis]

3. I saw a thing on the Discovery Channel about that guy..

They took him back into the ravine to discuss his week long ordeal of drinking his urine and cutting off his arm.. Crazy shit...

The fucked up part.. He couldn't cut through the bone. He had to break his arm first to get a place to slice through. The guy went to school for engineering. It was interesting how his decisions were based on logic and not emotion. Even under amazing amounts of duress.

Edit :: upon further googling the show was an episode of Dateline..

[cwydro]

6. Yeah,

I am too lazy too google his name, but I think it was Eric something or other. I actually grew up across the road from a guy who I could imagine doing that. He has since summitted Everest, but I have no doubt he could handle that kind of thing also... Yep, an engineer type.

I cannot imagine that situation...I read an account of it, especially when he knew he would cut through the nerve...omg.

[AggieGal]

4. It is amazing what your body will do to survive.

I think a guy in california cut off his arm. He was trapped between the highway and it was too noisy for anyone to hear him.

http://www.kiwisandals.com/angels.htm

[KamaAina]

5. Let me guess... then they arrested him for

practicing medicine without a license? :shrug: