# Small fall, big damage



## Xtra (Sep 14, 2005)

Sunday afternoon my father was cleaning his gutters. He couldn't reach an area so he climbed up on the roof. When he stood up to get back on the ladder he fell (not sure why . . . lost his balance?). He fell about 10 feet flat onto his back. Well, now he's in the trauma intensive care unit on a respirator with multiple broken ribs and a shattered spine (T12 and below). His spine was dislocated, the spinal cord stretched and severed by a bone spur. He is now a paraplegic from just a 10 ft fall! Just keep that in your mind next time you're free climbing.

He's almost 70, and has survived a 80+ mph head-on collision from a State Trooper (back in 1972 with no airbags . . . spent 2 months in ICU and his multiple surgeries were published in a medical book), he beat prostate cancer, survived a heart attack (last Thanksgiving). He was walking 3 to 6 miles everyday!

The doctor says that his survival rate is being measured day by day . . . please include him in your prayers.
Thank you.


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## notahacker (Sep 14, 2005)

Your father sounds like a strong man. He seems like a role model for many men today.


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## stehansen (Sep 14, 2005)

At a tree removal the other the homeowner has asked us to clean his gutters, they are about 30' high and the roof is too steep to stand on (and it is copper). Maybe I should pass on this one.


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## Fireaxman (Sep 14, 2005)

I have cleaned gutters on steep metal roofs, safely I think. I threw a climbing rope over the peak, tied it to a TREE (not a car bumper), padded it with a taped on towel at the point of contact with the peak so the screw heads would not cut it, and used an ascinder on the rope attached to my climbing saddle. All these precautions after my uncle fell 10 feet from his roof trying to use just a ladder.

72 fractures in Uncle Norman's skull from the 10 foot fall to his concrete patio, at 76 years old, and he survived (after 6 months in the hospital) with NO ILL AFTER-EFFECTS. Talk about tough, and Blessed by God. You never can tell. Everybody said he would die, or at best be permanently physically and psychologically damaged. Uncle Norman is now 82 years old and still mentally sharp. I pray for the same miraculous recovery for your dad.


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## JamesTX (Sep 15, 2005)

I'm very sorry to hear about your father......


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## Chris J. (Sep 15, 2005)

Prayers & positive thoughts for your dad.


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## fpyontek (Sep 15, 2005)

Best wishes for your father and hope for a speedy recovery.

A note to other arborists: Because of the excessive amount of acorns produced in the north east this year, walking on any surface beneath an oak tree is dangerous, and even more so on a pitched roof.

Several years back a 50's something owner of a tree company here in Morris Co., N.J. fell off a roof. He was blowing off debris while cleaning up after a job. He also fell a relatively short distance, but he struck his head and died.

Its not always the obvious dangers in our business we need to be aware of.


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## treeman82 (Sep 15, 2005)

The guy I work for, he was supposed to clean the gutters for somebody once. He never got around to doing it, so the client did it himself. The client fell off the roof or ladder and wound up going to the hospital. At the hospital they found out that the guy had some form of cancer and that he was lucky that they caught it when they did. Funny how things turn out sometimes.


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## Ekka (Sep 16, 2005)

Sad to hear and yes, small falls are deadly too.

I hate going on roofs and using ladders, I turn down every gutter clean offer.

OHS standards here mandate a harness and fall arest system after exceeding 1.8m ht ... now can see why.

Roofs are also slippery from dust or moss.

I wish him well and good vibes.


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## Eagle1 (Sep 16, 2005)

I hope he will be ok and sorry to hear of the fall. Peace


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## Tree Machine (Sep 17, 2005)

Xtra, you tell your Dad that the Tree Machine is thinking about him and sending positive, healing energy in the way that all of you have done for me. It truly does make a difference.

It's hard to imagine what you're all going through, especially Dad. You're in my prayers.


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## chris_girard (Sep 17, 2005)

You never know . Our prayers are with your family.


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## Xtra (Oct 19, 2005)

A brief update:
About three weeks ago my Dad was finally well enough to leave the trauma ICU and the next day there was an opening at Kessler Institute in West Orange, NJ (the same rehab Christopher Reeves went to). He'll be there another month.

He still has no feeling or movement from the hips down and some memory problems due to a mild stroke while in ICU (he was taken off blood thinners because of the spine operation), but he's zipping around in a wheelchair, cracking jokes, and coping with his new reality.

Thank you everyone for all your well wishes & positive energy! :angel: 

(The nurses doctors in ICU were surprised at his quick recovery. They had predicted a nursing home with a permanent tracheotomy, respirator, and feeding tube)


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## Sprig (Oct 20, 2005)

Xtra, my prayers also go out to your dad and your family. The Kessler Inst. is very highly regarded.
I don't want to highjack this thread but would like to briefly add my $.02 worth on low heights.
People take short heights forgranted sometimes, I did in '93 and it cost me my livelyhood. A 12ft fall from a stepladder that was on a jack-ladder system, fully extented landing on cut-off lumber pieces, shattered my ankle (47 someodd pieces), drove the tib/fib into the ground, 2months (3 operations) in hospital, a year in a Hoffman, yadda yadda. I'm pretty gimped now but consider myself lucky to be able to walk on my own two feet. As has been stated elsewhere in one of the forums, tired, end of the day, not paying attention (complacent), = accident waiting to happen. I'll still climb a ladder occasionally if need be but never an unsecured or unstable one. I also spend a lot of time giving people heck for working on job sites uninsured, just say no. I shudder to think what would have happened if I'd done this in a different country. 
I wish your dad the very best in his recovery.


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