Ben Please Be OK!!

[Gordon]

Hey Ben. Have just logged on for the first time this week and read about your mishap. Glad you are back home and in good spirits. I wish you everything of the best over the next few months. Take it easy buddy. Cheers Gordon

[Allan]

   Hey Ben slow down you will wear out your fingers you should be resting. Allan

[ben]

i must say this is the most stupidest thing by a long way i have ever done in my life! you know how you hear of blokes being blown up by welding petrol tanks that have not had petrol in them for 20 years and stupid things like that. well this is one of those stories only someone was looking after me upstairs cause i have lived to tell the tail. i promise you its not something i will ever come even close to doing again and hey this experience may save my life one day, or even your life just as important!!


ok so im at home about to glass up a jukebox monday afternoon 4.30 and its still fairly hot, i decide it would be good idea to cut the sleves off my shirt so i took off my shirt grabbed the closest thing (angle grinder) put the shirt back on and decided i would take it one step furthur and cut down the sides of my shirt to allow more air flow cause i was still hot,  but this time i didt take the shirt off for some stupid reason. i even remember thinking hmm that blade is getting awefuly close to my skin as i cut the right side. went to cut the left side and the material was caught in the blade and shot the 1mm blade straight into my armpit running the blade 180degrees around my arm, fully cutting arteries, mussels and nerves leaving a jagged mess. now the angle grinder was locked on cause i was using it with only 1 hand and this is where it really felt like a horror movie, the angle grinder had cut half my arm off and was still going for more, it had material stuck in it so it was making that horrible burning sound, i ripped it off my shirt and instantly a pumping flow of blood was gushing out everywhere, drenching me and my work area, i instantly ran to our house yelling and screaming for my sister very quickly i thought she was not home so i ran up our driveway which is about 50metres longto look for help, now i was holding the cut to try to restict the blood flow but the cut was over half my arm it was still pouring our everywhere. got to the edge of the road where i was yelling help me someone hellp me and i distinctivly rember the sound of my own voice was terrifying. first car to drive past his face was so scared he kept driving. rememver i was drenched in blood from my head to my toe. then a few people nearby herd my cry and rushed over i walked back toward the grass
and apparently collapsed

(from here on im going what other people have said cause i cant remember much althou was concious whole time)


apparently a few of the people that came over were nurses thank god, they knew what to do, apparently it seemed to take ages for the ambulace to come but i stayed very calm, i just wanted to go to sleep, one of my neibors kept me awake saying common ben stay with us dont go to sleep, so i did. i do remember people saying i cant look at this this is way too much and walking away.

ambulance came by that stage apparently i was changing color from white to grey to dark grey, people say it was the scariest thing like it was all over, loosing too much blood, i was also struggling to breate. but once the ambulace came they wrapped 2 first aid kits worth of bandage around the wound, still bleeding i remember being on oxegen and it feeling a bit better. my sisters arrived on the scene one sister was frantic and was unable to be calmed down the other one was crying. as i was being loaded into the ambulance i lip synced to my crying sister that i would be ok and i think that was good for her. sorry the story is taken ages ill quicken it up.

got taken to hospital turns out i lost 6 litres of blood, which im told is about half, they pumped heaps of blood into me. got air lifted to melb they did surgery on my arm for 6 and a half hours till 2.30 in the morning. cutting a section of artery out of my groin to go in my arm. since then ive been recoverying. thinking of the many ways i can get around only having use of 1 arm at the moment. with therepy i should have my hand gripping stuff in 6 months and should have full use of it in 2 years.


i wasnt sure how close i came to death but from talking to people id say pretty damn close, since herd of people dying loosing 5 litres of blood. thinking about the fact that i cant stand the sight of blood and dont know how didt fain with the initial accident, not sure how i managed to run around like a headless chock for so far (apparently the blood trail was all over the place not a straight line at one point it looked like i had done circles) then the fact that there were nurses nearby that knew what to do. any of theses stages didnt happen i would be in the clouds right now

i have to say im a beliver in god and i believe in him even more now with over 2,000 people prayed for me that night others having felt to pray for me the morning before the accident and others during the day im still here to testify thank god!! at one point i prayed god if this is it take me otherwise please give me another chance. i guess he choose the later option wahoo!!!!


thanks so much for those wishes and prayers that were sent up for me sorry for such a scare and please be safe, material should be anywhere near any spinning machinery which i already knew?? oh thanks for eddy and rob for visiting me in hospital also. i had heaps of visitors but the rest of them dont know what a awesome classic van feels like to drive.. the beddy culture!!!!



sorry it was so long.

ben

[able]

i have to admit Benny boy that i put my face in my palm as you started described cutting the shirt with the angle grinder thinking... you didn't did you. yep you did.

as many in this thread have said the angle grinder commands the up most respect. the good news besides the fact that you are still with us is that you have not only taught yourself a valuable lesson but have taught some or most of us the danger of becoming to casual with some of the more dangerous tools we have become accustom to using.

i cant imagine the horror of what you went through and some other stories in this thread but i fully understand how easy it can be done.

your here and you will recover... cant get a better ending then that.

ps. how long did it take you to type that out with one finger? 

[MaTTe]

mate you must have done something right in a past life.. to survive that is a miracle!

I've had a run in with rag and a grinder cleaning up a block, fortunately i wasn't wearing the rag, so i ditched the grinder for 6, but i know the sounds you're talking about only too vividly..

It sounds like something out of Saw.. "Saw IX, the grinder and the fashion designer.."

Anyway, good to hear you're all better and well on your way to an extended recovery, you'll value life much more intensely now!

[grandad]

hell ben what a story you will have to tell your kids later on. well hope you recover quick i had the tendens in my right hand cut i a car accdent 18 mts ago took a bout a yeat to get it working well again (wish the leg was the same) but on the upside you get some resly cool toys to play with to get it working (squizzy things with springs and rubberbands) ok take car if they is any thing i can help you with let me know
cheers

[Bedfordcrazy]

Hey Ben, CHILLING, what else can you say. Can I suggest a pair of scissers in the workshop, they dont have a mind of their own.
George.............

[kimbosound]

just don't run with the scissors in your mouth!!!!

[hotrod]

Well Ben and Steve(hunter by nature) you will both be pleases to know you are famous, I read both your stories to my grade 12 engineering classes, not only were they wincing but now have a new found respect for grinders.

[Worzel]

Glad to have you back Ben, older and wiser