Doctors Save Sheet Metal Worker's Hands, Nearly Severed in Machine (union worker)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Doctors-Save-Man-Hand-Nearly-Severed-Sheet-Metal-Worker-Metal-Bending-Machine-209440921.html

Ken Klapak says he feels "truly wealthy" after waking up to find the hand that had gotten mangled in a metal bending machine still attached to his body
By Greg Cergol
| Thursday, May 30, 2013 | Updated 7:23 AM EDT


A Staten Island man who nearly lost both hands in a work accident gave a celebratory fist pump Wednesday to the doctors who reattached those hands.

"I hit the lotto," said Ken Klapak. "I am a rich man."

Klapak, a sheet metal worker at a firm in North Babylon on Long Island, got his hands caught in a metal bending machine May 16. The 53-year-old was taken by helicopter to Stony Brook University hospital, where doctors said the only thing holding Klapak's hands to his arms were some flexor tendons. All the bone, arteries and nerves had been cut away.

"It happened literally in a split second," Klapak said. "I was scared. I was very, very scared."

FULL story and video at link. Nothing like a contract when your hurt at work.

[Sherman A1]

1. Good news indeed

Thanks for posting.