April 14th, 2021 was a great day to start off. It was a nice cool morning, clear, things were going great. We had two crews of three employees each that included a foreman, a journeyman lineman, and a hot apprentice. It happened to be my hot apprentices’ birthday this date and he was a “new” hot apprentice of approximately 1-2 months. Both crews had met first thing in the morning and laid out a game plan for what each crews responsibility and expectations were to be for that day. My crew was to layout the south phase with a temporary cut out, remove the old cut out from service and then move top and bottom jumpers to the cut out. Crew number 2 was to lay the north phase to the end of the layout arm, install a temporary cut out as well, and remove the old cut out from service. They were also to layout the center phase, install a temporary cut out and remove the old cut out from service. However, they were unable to reach the center phase cut out to de-energize the top phase. Crew number two was to go down and get a stick to complete the task but forgot.

     Why did they forget?  We do not know.  What we do know is that there was not enough staff to be performing the assigned task.  This job had two road crossings.  All six of us were doing more than just the job of one person. Each foreman oversaw watching their crew, monitoring traffic, trying to get wire up to the guys in the bucket, and keeping a guard in place while each journeyman lineman and hot apprentice crew  were in their own bucket working on the north and south sides of the pole. The linemen also oversaw watching and monitoring their apprentices as well as doing their jobs. Six guys missed the fact that one phase did not get deenergized and I grabbed the cutout to adjust the center phase without knowing it had not been deenergized.

     That mistake has affected my family a tremendous amount in many ways.  The lack of communication, complacency, and distractions from everything going on at the work site lead up to a life changing event.  I died.  My apprentice said he saw my hard hat hit the ground, saw my head down and smelled burnt leather all at the same time.  He grabbed my harness and pulled me from the line while calling for help from the second crew that had moved two spans away. They got me out of the bucket and onto the back of the truck, removed my vest, sweatshirt, and long sleeve shirt to begin CPR. Someone brought an AED and set it up on me and cycled it three times before I regained a pulse.  All I remember at that time was everything had tightened up in my body and everything had gone bright.

      I do remember being able to ask one of the crew members to bring my phone so I could make some calls.  My first call was to a very good friend of mine, a lineman that I used to work with. I had him call my wife. Then I proceeded to call my wife and two of the crew members while being hauled away to the ER. An awful lot of emotions went through my head on that trip to the hospital. Fear, worry, thankful I was alive were among many emotions. 

     My wife said when she got the phone call, she did not want to answer it. Seeing my friends name on her caller ID told her something had went terribly wrong.  I have never been so happy to be able to call her to let her know that I was okay and on my way to the hospital, and that she could meet me up there! The next 24 hours while I was in the hospital was a major whirlwind of activity talking with people, receiving countless phone calls, and making countless phone calls. In a time like this it’s amazing to see how many friends you have.

     Pain, worry, anxiety, anger, frustration, depression, and isolation are just a few of the things that my family and I have went through during the last 22 months. I have gone through four surgeries on both hands, months of occupational therapy sessions to help me regain use of my hands and fingers, and many doctor appointments to get me where I am today.

     Now let me tell you, dealing with workman’s comp has not been my idea of fun. We were blessed with a case manager nurse who attended every appointment with us and kept track of every single solitary thing. Even though she worked for the work comp side she was more help to us than she probably should have been. She helped us ask the right questions, explained things to me in layman terms, and stayed calm dealing with case adjuster.  She also helped by insuring the correct wound dressing supplies were acquired and attended appointments while seeing hand specialists for the doctor and occupational therapist to the prostatitis.  We have had to fight to get what I needed.  Imagine seeing a doctor initially that wasn’t confident to what procedures were needed but in turn getting transferred to a fantastic hand specialist. The day of surgery came to remove the end joints of my left thumb, right index finger and ring finger.  It was an emotional day for many reasons.  Several stressful things occurred  that day, two of which were just prior to surgery which increased my anxiety level to an all-time high. The next three surgeries went much better.

     Every emotion you can imagine has went through my head from all of this. Fear, anger, isolation, depression, pain, lack of income and a whole new way of living for me and my family.  This has been a constant every single day since my accident.  One emotion causes another becoming  a vicious cycle.  My sleep patterns have been greatly affected.  All conversations have been focused on the accident.  Quality time with my wife and boys have been deeply changed.  To make up for lack of income my wife has picked up a second job which causes her to be gone from the house even longer hours causing more isolation and depression that I’ve had to fight through in this battle the entire time.  Both of my sons have taken on additional work to help.  Even now as additional changes occur, we must pinch every penny just to survive.  When people say, “Oh well you’re getting workman’s comp pay”, they don’t realize that Workman’s Comp money is capped in each state and just because you made a certain dollar amount every week that doesn’t mean that you’re going to get anywhere close to that with the Workman comp funds. There is a definite difference, and each state has their own cap to it.

     No one ever prepares you for the changes that can occur if an injury or an illness happens to a you or a family member.  When a work injury happens and you’re the primary income provider, life takes a drastic turn.  My family has made a tremendous number of adjustments and have walked through this life changing event with me the entire way.  They say it’s been hard to watch me go through all these different emotions.  Dealing with the constant pain, lack of socialization, and maintaining sanity because I am a people person and I love being amongst friends and family.   It’s been extremely hard on my family to add additional work hours, keeping up with all the paperwork for workman’s comp, coordinating appointments, and just being able to pay our bills.

     My advice to anyone out there working is to avoid getting injured at home or on the job!  Always pay attention to what you are doing.  Don’t be in a hurry or get distracted.  Avoid complacency and be always aware of your surroundings.  No one ever wants to go through the pain and agony of a work-related injury.  The physical, mental, emotional, and financial pain can be unbearable.   The mental and physical strain created a tremendous burden on my family.  My close friends, family, and my faith in God are the only reasons that I’ve gotten to where I am today.  I would love to share my story to help people understand why it is so important to work safely every day.