A teenager who clenched a pencil in his teeth to dial for help after his arms were torn off in a tractor accident saved his life, and he may have saved his limbs, doctors said.
John Thompson's arms were reattached in a six-hour operation at North Memorial Medical Center in this Minneapolis suburb, where the 18-year-old from Hurdsfield, N.D., was listed in serious but stable condition Wednesday.Thompson was home alone on Saturday when his arms were torn off in the power takeoff of a tractor. He walked 400 yards to his house, where he used his mouth to turn a doorknob and his foot to knock open a door.
Clutching a pencil in his teeth, he called paramedics by phone, then waited for them in his family's bathtub so he wouldn't bleed on the carpet.
Dr. Curt Nyhus said Thompson was conscious and not in shock when he arrived at St. Aloisius Medical Center in Harvey, N.D.
"I introduced myself and said, `John, are you going to hang in there?' And he looked up and said, `You bet, I got this far.' You knew right then that something special was going to happen to him," Nyhus said.
He said Thompson didn't bleed to death because his severed arteries, hanging raggedly outside his body, naturally closed themselves off.
Thompson was later flown to North Memorial Medical Center. Doctors said it will be five to 10 days before they know if the operation was a success.
"The circulation to his arms is very good. The concern now is infection," said Dr. Allen Van Beek, a plastic surgeon who reattached Thompson's left arm.