A teenager named Loren Schauers survived a horrific forklift accident. Loren, from Great Falls, Montana, in the USA, was working as a labourer on a construction site during a bridge rehabilitation job in September 2019.
At that time, he was driving a forklift across a bridge when he veered off, plummeted 50ft and was pinned to the ground beneath the four tonne vehicle. At that time, Loren veered too close to the bridge edge and the ground crumbled beneath him.
He attempted to jump from the falling forklift but his leg got trapped by the seatbelt, swinging him from the machinery as it plummeted 50ft down a steep hill.
Then, the 19-year-old remembers looking down to see his right arm had exploded and everything below his hips was completely squashed.
Now, that young labourer has defied the odds to survive after having the lower half of his body amputated.
He made the brave decision to let medics perform hemicorperectomy surgery to save his life.
Doctors told his waist was amputated and he wouldn’t survive. But miraculously he pulled through.
At that time, an air ambulance landed on the bridge and pulled Loren up the hill on a stretcher before flying to a hospital in Bozeman, Montana, where he met his loved ones.
Loren had completely lost his right forearm and hand in the accident and broken his right collarbone and shoulder.
He suffered a pulmonary embolism – a blockage in his lung artery – and needed a breathing tube.
Earlier this year, Loren proposed to Sabia, his girlfriend and the engaged couple plan to get married on their anniversary date of July 17, in either 2021 or 2022.
Sabia said: “Going through this together has definitely strengthened a lot of the aspects of our relationship. It has made us a lot more appreciative of the little things that we used to take for granted as a couple before.”
