14 DAY TRIAL // Doctors at the Stony Brook Hospital in New York performed a miracle when they removed a 4-inch (10 cm) nail from a 78-year-old man's chest.
Huffington Post reported on this man's unusual injury, that left his relatives and doctors shocked, and praying for his recovery.
The incident happened in Stony Brook some five years ago, but it is still catching people's attention as it is set to be featured in the Discovery channel's I Was Impaled documentary.
Dale Carman was mowing his front lawn when he felt something hit and pinch him. He didn't think much of it, and wasn't in excruciating pain, so he ignored it and kept on with chores.
"I had already made one run on the property and just started on the second round and something hit my chest. [...] I just thought, 'Well, it just threw up a stone or something,' and I kept on moving," Carman said.
It didn't strike him as something serious until he noticed blood dripping on his shirt and trousers. Soon after, he was covered in it and his vision started getting blurry. He didn't have difficulty breathing, but decided to consult with his wife in the odd case in which he might have broken a rib.
"I looked down and my shirt was just covered in blood," he said. "I thought, 'Gosh, that must have been a very sharp stone, and it must have cracked a rib or broke the skin at least," the man described, sharing his thoughts at the time.
His wife, Louisa, was the one that suggested they got to a hospital.
"I saw a little hole in his shirt the size of a small pebble. I thought something might have penetrated his skin," she said.
Believing the injury to be minor, he opted on driving there, instead of calling an ambulance. As a result, emergency room staff didn't treat the injury right away. Carman's physical condition, though very good for his age, started deteriorating.
After she insisted, a doctor agreed to see him and ordered a CT scan. It was revealed that Mr. Carman's heart had been impaled by a 4-inch (10 cm) nail. It wasn't until he was asked to lift his arms that the man realized his injury might turn deadly. “It felt like it was pulling my chest apart," he said.
Cardiac surgeon Dr. Todd Rosengart performed a two-hour emergency operation, and managed to remove the nail and save the man's life. Today, 5 years from the accident, he is safe and healthy, and has recovered well from the operation.