Number 11 James Valentine While on the job with Adler Tree Service in
Gibsonia, north of Pittsburgh, James Valentine narrowly survived an accident that saw the
razor-sharp teeth of a chainsaw come within a third of an inch from a vital artery.
The 21-year-old was doing maintenance work on a pine tree when the chainsaw kicked back
and cut into his shoulder and then his neck.
His quick-thinking colleagues detached the blade from its motor and held it in place
until first responders arrived at the scene.
As an ambulance transported him to Allegheny General Hospital, Valentine was awake and
responsive.
The trauma center was alerted by paramedics that a man with a chainsaw blade in his neck
was en route.
It’s an injury typology known to result in a damaged spinal cord, airway or esophagus.
Valentine was very fortunate as he’d taken the brunt of the contact with the blade on
the shoulder instead of the neck.
The saw cut through the muscles and soft tissues but stopped near his carotid artery, a vital
vessel that supplies blood to the brain.
Because of this, there was no major blood loss and Valentine was on the road to a full
recovery.
Number 10 Gregery Bulbuc In January of 2015, a Romanian tree surgeon
suffered a fatal accident while working on a private property in Bermondsey, South London.
31-year-old Gregery Bulbuc was trimming a tree while suspended from a rope.
As the chainsaw reached a harder portion of the tree, it kicked back into his neck.
Bulbuc was nearly decapitated and bled out while still hanging from the tree.
The chainsaw, which continued to operate, dangled from the man’s body, no longer making
contact with anything.
A resident called the emergency services and other members of Bulbuc’s crew used a ladder
to bring his body down.
The father-of-one passed away only a week from his 32nd birthday.
Number 9 Pauline Pudney In 2005, a man from Eltham, in southeast London,
accidentally killed his wife while operating a chainsaw on a ladder.
56-year-old Roland Pudney was using the power tool to prune bushes in his garden.
His wife Pauline, aged 57, was holding the base of the ladder, concerned about the risks
that came with handling a chainsaw.
The couple’s dog then went after a golf ball that Pauline had previously thrown in
the garden.
It ran into the stepladder just as Roland had begun to cut into the tree.
As he fell, the blade from his chainsaw struck his wife in the neck.
Roland got up and saw that Pauline was bleeding and unresponsive.
He called the emergency services and paramedics arrived to the property but they were unable
to revive her.
A verdict of accidental death was recorded.
The tragedy occurred just as Pauline was reportedly contemplating retiring so that she could spend
more time with her husband.
Number 8 Incident in Sydney In June of 2021, an Australian man suffered
life-threatening injuries while cutting a tree with a chainsaw, in Sydney’s south.
Emergency services arrived at Canonbury Grove, shortly after 9 am, and were forced into haste
action in order to save his life.
The unnamed 32-year-old had been part of a group tasked with felling a tree in the area.
His chainsaw suddenly kicked back, which is one of the most common and dangerous aspects
of operating the power tool.
A kickback occurs when the chain abruptly comes to halt and forcefully throws the saw
back towards the operator.
The rapidly rotating blades plunged into the man’s neck.
He was bleeding profusely from a deep laceration and had also suffered cuts to his arm.
Two teams of paramedics worked together and managed to stabilize him before he was transported
to St. George Hospital.
Number 7 Bill Singleton On May the 6th of 2016, Australian man Bill
Singleton willed himself through surviving a harrowing chainsaw accident in which his
face was split open.
The 68-year-old was working at his property in Ballarat when he lost control of the power
tool.
It went into his head, cutting through his lower jaw.
Singleton was unable to call for an ambulance because his tongue had been sliced in half.
He got into his car and started driving to the nearest hospital, after wrapping his head
together with bandages.
Singleton reached the medical facility’s car park but collapsed to his knees and recognized
that he was starting to pass out.
He forced himself to get back and reached the entrance.
He was quickly airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital where doctors determined that he’d
cut into his head as far back as his wisdom teeth.
The chainsaw had knocked out a few of his teeth but, fortunately, stopped before reaching
the carotid artery or the larynx.
One of Singleton’s doctors compared treating the injury to a gunshot wound, commenting
on the dangers of operating a chainsaw.
Once contact with skin is made, it continuously grabs on tissue, going deeper and deeper.
After extensive treatment, Singleton was released from the hospital and continued to recover
at his home.
He told a media outlet that the accident hadn’t deterred him from operating chainsaws in the
future.
Number 6 Greg Norman Australian golfing legend Greg Norman suffered
a horrific chainsaw accident, in September of 2014, which nearly cost him his left hand.
Norman, who was professionally nicknamed the “Great White Shark”, had been doing DIY
work around his Florida home.
A few days prior to the incident he’d posted a picture to his social media of him using
a chainsaw to trim a plant on his property.
It’s believed to have been the same power tool that ultimately inflicted a deep cut
to his limb, although Norman didn’t comment on the particularities of the accident.
A subsequent Instagram post would show him lying on a hospital bed, hooked up to monitors
and tubes.
In the post, the 59-year-old told his followers how lucky he felt to have not lost his hand
while also urging them to be “respectful of the unexpected” when handling chainsaws.
Number 5 Scott Palmer For roughly two years, after moving to a neighborhood
in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, Jessica Appleby had been feuding with her neighbors.
She attributed the recurring conflicts to her not fitting in with the “lifestyle on
the street”.
Then, in May of 2017, the mother-of-one and her partner, Dean Brown, were involved in
a massive brawl just outside their home.
It escalated from an argument in the front garden to a fistfight in which Brown and neighbor
Scott Palmer, a chief aggressor in the confrontation, exchanged punches.
Appleby and another woman then grabbed each other by the hair before wrestling on the
ground in the street.
In the filmed altercation, witnessed egged them on and children were heard crying in
the background.
As the brawl had seemingly started to die down, with those involved content to trade
accusations rather than blows, Palmer emerged wielding a chainsaw.
He was recorded making his way towards the couple’s home and reportedly shouted “Here’s
Chucky” referencing the character from the “Child’s Play” horror film.
Brown managed to kick him out and block the door, thus preventing him from harming Appleby
and her son.
In the aftermath, Palmer was charged with affray, having an offensive weapon and criminal
damage to property, and jailed for 24 months.
Number 4 Adam Baldock In 2011, Adam Baldock was working as a tree
surgeon for a company called Acacia, based in Kent, England.
On the day that he was celebrating his third anniversary with his girlfriend, the 27-year-old
was on the job in Mitcham, Surrey.
He’d climbed a tree and was trying to cut down a large branch.
It’s believed that he’d pushed it back too far causing it to spring back and launch
the chainsaw into him, blade-first.
It ripped into the left side of Baldock’s neck, causing him to fall 20 feet from the
tree.
Residents called the emergency services after hearing a blood-curdling scream that echoed
through the neighborhood.
In spite of paramedics’ resuscitation attempts, Baldock succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Number 3 Mal Wilhelm In 2017, Perth man Mal Wilhelm nearly died
after the tree he was cutting changed direction and fell on him, pushing the chainsaw he was
operating into his body.
The 52-year-old was cutting the tree for firewood, on his remote Chittering property, when he
found himself crushed beneath the weight of the tree.
It took the paramedics three hours to reach him, a time during which Wilhelm wasn’t
sure that he was going to survive as he could feel his lung filling up with blood.
Aside from the lacerations inflicted by the power tool Wilhelm also suffered broken legs,
a fractured spine and a compressed rib cage.
He was taken to the Royal Perth Hospital and placed in intensive care.
He had a special filter inserted into his veins to stop a blood clot from migrating
into his lungs.
The device that ultimately saved his life measured roughly 25 mm and had prongs reaching
out from the center of the filter.
Its successful application was used as an example in a study that looked to widen its
use with patients suffering from extreme trauma.
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Number 2 Mhlengi Gwala On March the 6th of 2018, triathlete Mhelgi
Gwala was the victim of a horrific attack that occurred while he was training near Durban,
South Africa.
Three men pulled him from his bike, held him at gunpoint and dragged him into some bushes.
Then, using a chainsaw, they tried to cut off his legs below the knee.
It’s believed to have been a targeted attack deliberately meant to cripple him ahead of
the national championships, which were due to start in 10 days’ time.
Even after Gwala had given the assailants his wallet and cellphone, they continued to
cut through his right calf.
They got about halfway through, damaging his muscles, nerves and bone before moving to
his left leg.
Gwala would recall that the men spoke in a language he didn’t understand.
They ultimately relinquished the attack and it’s believed that they’d only done so
because the chainsaw was too blunt to finish the job.
In agony, Gwala crawled to the road where he flagged down a car and was taken to a local
hospital.
Doctors believed that his legs could be saved.
A crowdfunding effort was initiated aiming to “Get Mhlengi back on his bike” while
the full-scope of the motive for the attack remains unknown as does the identity of his
attackers.
Number 1 Incident in Romania In the winter of 2016, an unnamed 49-year-old
Romanian man was cutting firewood in a village of Iasi County, located in the country’s
northeast.
He called a neighbor to help him and they shared a few alcoholic drinks before starting
the chore.
He warned his 53-year-old friend to be careful while operating the chainsaw.
Then, as a joke, the neighbor lunged forward with the power tool in hand as, simultaneously,
the other man stepped forward.
The chainsaw ended up in his groin and tore apart the father-of-three’s genitals.
His wife suddenly saw him covered in blood and called for an ambulance.
The victim was rushed to the hospital where doctors were able to stabilize his condition
and struggled to save as much of his manhood as they could.
The man survived but the future implications of his injury remain unclear.
His wife stated that she intended to press charges against the neighbor who was distraught
in the aftermath, insisting that he was only trying to make a joke.
Thanks for watching!
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