'It's an absolute miracle'

GARDEN ROUTE | HESSEQUA NEWS - Life Bay View Private Hospital in Mossel Bay handled an interesting case when a man who had fallen head first, 6.3 metres from a grain silo, arrived at casualty.

His skull was fractured, but besides that there was not a single bone broken in his body.

Neurosurgeon Dr Herman van Heerden handled the patient, who had been rushed to the hospital, the closest one from Heidelberg, which is 120km away.

Danie Oosthuizen (58) was working on a silo at Eureka Mills, about 20 kilometres outside Heidelberg, when the accident took place. He told the Mossel Bay Advertiser this week: "I was doing maintenance on the silo, working on the motor. I took hold of the motor and it came loose and I fell down with it."

Danie says his fall was broken by ladders and gantries on the silo, so he did not hit the ground as hard as he could have. "I bounced," he says with a laugh. "It's an absolute miracle I did not break a bone, except for fracturing my head."

He says the general manager at the mills, Nico Steyn, saved his life. "I bled a lot. I owe my life to God and to Nico, for getting to me so fast. He was the first person on the scene.

"He wrapped towels around my head to stop the bleeding, put me in a bakkie and drove me to Dr Gerard Scholtz in Heidelberg. There they sterilised the wound and tried to stop the bleeding. This didn't really stop it though. I waited for an ambulance and it took me to Bay View Hospital.

Metal staples
"I had 23 metal staples in my head."

The accident took place on Tuesday, 24 November, at 10:00. Danie was discharged from hospital on the Friday and the following Friday he returned for the metal staples to be removed. Danie was to return to work on Thursday 17 December.

He said: "I can't remember the fall. All I know is what people told me afterwards. I climbed up the silo and told one welder to fetch the welder for me because a bracket was loose.

"In the time he was away, the accident took place. They told me I was walking around after the fall and I asked what had happened. Then I remember lying on the bed at Dr Scholtz's practice. Then the ambulance came."

When Danie arrived at hospital, he had to undergo scans to check for broken bones and then the operation took place.

"Besides my head injury, I had only a few bruises." One of Danie's ears was ripped a little in the fall "but they fixed that up. Now I have a very short haircut and a scar on my head." He is the maintenance supervisor at Eureka Mills. Danie says: "It was not my time to go. I am a Christian and I believe God saved me for something I still must do."

Four days after the accident.