A man is very lucky to be alive after a tree branch pierced through in neck in a freak accident. The tree branch caused an internal decapitation, leading to a life-threatening and deadly injury.
So what happened? Well, Ohio native Phillip Pohle had been working at Hocking Hills State Park in March. Pohle worked as a maintenance man and was in the middle of clearing out debris. According to local outlet WBNS, the 32-year-old was in the middle of pushing a large tree off the road.
That's when the freak accident happened. He ended up crashing into the tree. According to Phole, his foot got stuck on the gas of his front loader. He crashed into the tree, causing the branch to pierce through his neck. The only thing he remembered was a pop.
Injured by Tree Branch
"I have no broken bones and that sucker hit me hard," Pohle said. "After the initial hit, I was kind of stunned. Did that just happen? I started thinking of my children because it was really nice being a dad. I just thought how much I was going to miss them, miss my babies."
He thought that he was going to die. Fortunately, his coworkers saw the accident with the tree branch. They quickly stabilized his neck and began sawing away the branch of the tree. He was rushed to Grant Medical Center in Columbus. But neurosurgeon Dr. Victor Awuor had his work cut out for him.
The tree branch caused an internal decapitation. The doctor had to use "plates, screws, and rods" to reattach his neck. The recovery ahead will be long and uncertain.
"He has an extremely lengthy road to recover and sadly bills and costs of living will not pause for their family," Pohle's girlfriend Haley Davidson's best friend Brittany Berry wrote in the fundraiser description. "This was such a fast-devastating blow to their little family, and now the world rests on Haley's shoulders."
