"I guess you can call him Scarface, mang."
Posted on 03/10/2007 12:28:34 AM PST by DieHard the Hunter
Grit and determination to get help without blacking out was the difference between life and death for a Waikanae man who sliced open his face with a chainsaw.
Chas Marshall, 35, was cutting firewood for a friend in End Farm Rd, Waikanae, last Wednesday when his chainsaw kicked back into his face, inflicting a deep cut from his eyebrows to his chin.
"For a split second I did not know what happened – it just kicked back.
"I was numb, I could not feel anything, just my eyebrows wide apart and blood pouring everywhere," Mr Marshall said.
"I felt like blacking out but thought, 'Don't hurry, don't panic – go and get help'."
After putting away his safety gear, he walked to the closest neighbour's home but found no one there.
He got in his car and drove to the next- closest neighbour.
"My first thought was, 'Put your seatbelt on, the cops will be coming around here soon'," he said.
When he arrived outside the house he blasted his horn and a woman came out.
"I could not see much by that stage," he said.
When the shocked woman saw blood streaming from his face and pooling in the car, she called an ambulance then drove Mr Marshall's car up the road to meet it.
The ambulance took him to a nearby park, where he was picked up by the Westpac rescue helicopter and flown to Wellington Hospital.
A plastic surgeon at Hutt Hospital repaired the long gash in his face with 50 stitches.
Mr Marshall praised his neighbour's prompt actions.
"Doctors told me if I had lain down I would have died," he said.
He was using appropriate safety gear at the time of the accident, including a helmet and chaps, and believed there was nothing he could have done to prevent the chainsaw ripping into his face.
"It was a split-second kickback – I was just getting on with my job. It happened in a flash, just like that. I am no hero – I just did what I had to do. People using chainsaws should take it easy and remember safety always comes first."
And, anyone living on a farm or in a remote place: a good First Aid course could save your life or the life of a loved one or next-door neighbor. Don't procrastinate: train up now and stay current.
Your source link is fubar. Takes me to the page we use to post new articles.
Yikes, whenever I use my chainsaw, I always hold it to the right of my body and head, just in case it was to kick back.
Glad this man is ok.
It'd be darned embarrasing to meet St. Peter and have to explain that he'd managed to kill himself in this manner.
L
> Your source link is fubar. Takes me to the page we use to post new articles.
Oops! Dunno what happened there (obviously I erred), try this link instead:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/3988656a10.html
These items include sunglasses, a beer, and a cigarette.
Of course I'm standing on a ladder while working. So what could possibly go wrong?
L
"I guess you can call him Scarface, mang."
Be amazed at how fast a a little chainsaw can get away from you. Carpenter I used to work with took about 20 stitches in the forehead on a kick back on a commercial project. Sunglasses, and cigarettes, okay, worker's comp would have ripped him, and the company, had there been any alcohol involved. Plastic surgeon did a pretty good job for the final act.
My hubby had a chainsaw "incident" a few years back. He was cutting up downed branches - holding the chainsaw with only one hand - and it kicked back on him - popped up the side of his hand a few times and left some pretty rough-looking gouges.
He came into the house and called for me. When I walked into the kitchen, he was standing over the sink. The first thing I said was, "Do I need to go find a finger?"
We took him to the emergency room and the admitting nurse informed me that he was the third "chainsaw" that day. This was before we moved to a farm; we lived in the suburbs of Washinton DC at the time of the "incident."
Where we live now, the farmers generally have worked with chainsaws at some length and don't try the one-handed stunt that my husband - or those other suburban "weekend warriors" - did.
When I was very young, I was accidentally hit in the face with a 9 iron golfclub....
It sliced open my face from the left corner of my mouth down to my chin.
I had several operations by an excellent plastic surgeon, and combined with my young age....
..have only a thin scar that no one seems to notice.
Except to wear one more piece of chainsaw safety gear. Which very few, including me, bother to wear. But I do know a couple people that use the face screen.
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