Man survived being impaled with rusty pole which somehow missed every organ
'I'm just glad I'm still alive.'
A gardener who impaled himself on a rusty metal fence pole that entered his body inches from his anus and went through his torso lives to tell the tale.
Frank Vaorin, 55, was pruning trees at his home in Cuxhaven, Germany, when he slipped off a ladder and landed on the three-inch thick pole.
Gruesome hospital scans show how the massive pole ended up emerging through his rib cage.
Frank is now making a full recovery in hospital because the pole avoided touching a single vital organ.
Frank said: I remember hanging there on the pole with my feet in the air.
‘My son quickly pushed something under my feet to stop the bar from slipping any further.’
He added that he was ‘conscious the whole time’ and said: ‘I would like to thank the doctors and rescue workers for saving my life and my son for how quickly he helped and called for help.
‘I’m just glad I’m still alive.’
Head surgeon Professor Hueseyin Bektas said: ‘The patient didn’t just have one guardian angel, there must have been many.’
Firefighters sawed off the pole and Frank was then transferred over to the care of paramedics.
Gesundheit Nord hospital, where Frank is being treated, said in a statement: ‘Frank Vaorin was incredibly lucky in his misfortune.
‘If the man from Cuxhaven had hit the pole in just a slightly different way, the injuries would have been much worse and the accident could even have been fatal.
Bektas added: ‘The fact that the rod didn’t injure a single organ is practically a miracle. I have never experienced a case like this in my entire career.
‘It is proof that you should never give up hope, even if the chance of rescue seems so small.’
Frank remains in hospital recovering from his injuries and coming to terms with the shock of the accident.
Hospital officials said: ‘He also has to mentally process the accident first, just like his son, who had to witness everything.’
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