36-hour nightmare on freeway

[kskiska]

A motorist paralysed by a broken neck lay undiscovered for 36 hours behind the concrete barriers down the middle of a freeway in Houston, Texas.

Ed Theisen, 46, survived a night alone unable to move or summon help. "Someone riding in the back of a pickup truck spotted him," his wife, Debora Rodeffer-Theisen, said yesterday after he emerged from surgery.

one more paragraph…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1182365,00.html

[tom_paine]

1. Holy shit!

Poor bastard. At least he's safe now. Hopefully, he will one day be able to walk again.

[papercut]

2. Texas.

Imagine that.

[PartyPooper]

4. Where else?

BTW, welcome to DU, papercut!

:hi:

[Almost_there]

3. Lucky to be alive...

I read this on CNN the other day, its as if everything that could possibly have gone wrong went wrong. He was literally just a few feet from his own car that was being towed, but just out of view of everything. Glad he's alive, hopefully he'll be walking again.

[shawn703]

5. This story doesn't tell you very much...

1. How did the guy break his neck? During the accident or when he fell from fainting? (I can imagine the accident causing enough force to break your neck, but not a fall caused by fainting - but if his neck was broken because of the accident, would he have gotten out of the car?)

2. What did the motorist who hit him do? He wasn't a little curious that the guy just disappeared?

Anyone from Houston know more about this?

Thanks

[Kool Kitty]

6. Didn't the people that towed the car have any questions about

where the hell the driver was? Weird. (Hey, shawn, I love your sig pic.)

[buddy22600]

7. definately weird

BTW I love the McDonald's picture also, its where I work in manufacturing

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Some broken necks still allow you to do surprising things

like continue playing an English soccer cup final for 15 minutes.

http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/club/view/past_players/0,,10794~18798,00.html

[havocmom]

9. I could see the neck being broken in the accident

Even a slow motion accident like that can cause a lot more damage than one would think. I hope it is something you never have to learn first hand.

As long as everything stays in place there doesn't seem to be much damage. When things slip out of place, not good at all.
There is a reason paramedics, EMTs and doctors try to keep patients absolutely flat and immobile until they look at the xrays. Any jostle to the spine can make an easy to fix break into a paralyzing or life ending one.