# CDOT worker recovering after losing leg



## fattyphatcakes (Mar 19, 2005)

CDOT worker recovering after losing leg

Ernie Weir injured by falling tree in January accident

By Aimee Heckel, Camera Staff Writer
March 10, 2005

LONGMONT — A Lyons man had his left leg amputated below the knee over the weekend because of injuries he suffered when he was pinned under a tree he cut down for the state Department of Transportation.

Ernie Weir, 47, and his maintenance crew were removing a grove of dead cottonwood trees in the St. Vrain canyon in late January, when a gust of wind caught a 35-foot-tall falling tree and spun it in Weir's direction.

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"I was trying to get the heck out of Dodge, but I couldn't, and it hit me," Weir said from Longmont United Hospital on Wednesday.

The tree smacked Weir's back and then both of his legs, breaking his femur and twisting his left foot "every which way," he said.

The other two workers from the crew lifted the tree off Weir. One man then held him, dangling from the edge of the embankment, while the other worker flagged down a passing car; their radios weren't working. Weir said the pain was excruciating, but he had no idea how seriously he was hurt.

After several surgeries and weeks in Longmont United Hospital, he was strong enough to start physical therapy. On Friday, Weir learned his foot had gangrene. His foot and leg were amputated just below the knee on Saturday.

"I'm just taking it day by day now. I don't know what's in my future," he said.

Weir didn't want to talk much about his pain, although he admitted it's sometimes unbearable.

Instead, he spoke eagerly about returning to work. He'd been working for the state only four months before the accident. Prior to that, he worked for the town of Lyons and was a custodian at the St. Vrain Valley School District. Weir grew up in the Longmont area and married his high-school sweetheart, Terri. They have a 22-year-old daughter.

Weir said he's amazed by the support from CDOT employees. People from across the state have collected nearly $1,000 to help him pay for a wheelchair ramp and other changes he'll need to make to his Lyons home. Nurses joke that they've never seen so many orange-shirted visitors.

Karla Harding, region transportation director, said CDOT is "like a big family."

"If he needs one, there will be 10 orange shirts out there building him a wheelchair ramp. Employees are already asking if they need help around his house," Harding said. "We haven't given up on Ernie. We want him back."

Weir said many people take for granted the workers who are "down in the ditches, driving snow plow trucks at 3 in the morning when you can't even see the hood of your truck just so people can drive to work. People don't realize that we risk our lives every day."

Contact Camera Staff Writer Aimee Heckel at (303) 473-1359 or [email protected].


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## Stumper (Mar 19, 2005)

That is sad. I wonder why he needs a wheel chair ramp?


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## sedanman (Mar 19, 2005)

I'll be a LONG time before his stump is ready to receive a prosthesis. Standing on crutches won't be much fun (painful) for a while too. I had an uncle who lost a leg in a single engine plane crash, he was the pilot. Long recovery, he eventually got re-certified to fly commercially.


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## Stumper (Mar 20, 2005)

Paul, Okay. I know that the prosthesis will take time-I just couldn't envision much coming and going while the stump is healing. I would think (as a non-amputee) that as soon as drainage/bleeding problems are not an issue I'd be on crutches. I had a friend whose right leg was amputated at the hip. He wouldn't even use handicapped parking spaces-that was for people with real problems!


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