TIL about a man who was inflated and lived

Thank goodness his accident happened in New Zealand or he’d have a crushing weight of debt to deal with on top of the pain and recovery. Imagine seeing someone just swelling up! That headline is an interesting choice too.

I think I remember hearing about it when it happened (that article is 14 years old), The man was lucky he wasn’t hurt worse and recovered so quickly.

Yeah, I was amazed that he returned to work after only 2 weeks.

Then evidently the injury wasn’t all that horrendous. Real scary-seeming, but if he really had been seriously hurt, he would not have gotten back to work so quickly.

I recall that when, as a teenager, I went to work at a factory job. We got a safety lecture that told us about the danger of compressed air, and about a guy who died after an air hose entered his rectum. The intestine is a surprisingly fragile organ. This guy is lucky that the hose entered his buttock like an intradermal needle.

I recall reading someplace that it’s about as stout as a wet paper towel.

Which really makes me shudder when thinking of all the insert-object-in-rectum entertainment that so many folks get up to. :shiver:

“I Was Impaled” (2012), Episode #3

Maybe the article was an example of puffery.

I’d say this whole thing was probably blown out of proportion.


One of my bros is a construction worker. On one occasion another guy fell off some concrete forms they were assembling and got impaled up the ass on a ~1" rebar sticking up. This was before the anti-impalement mushrooms* were invented / required.

Anyhow, two guys supported the guy’s weight while somebody else used a sawzall to cut the rebar off at about knee height. They laid him out on the ground to await the EMS folks. He ended up w a lifetime colostomy bag but was otherwise OK. EMS said their quick work and not trying to pull the rebar out probably saved his life.




* rebar mushroom cap - Google Image Search

And his kid was named Spike!?!!
That was almost clairvoyant.

I can’t help but laugh. So sorry, I’m glad he got well but my stomach hurts I’m laughing so hard.