52-year-old Doug Bergeson was working on his house near Peshtigo, Wisconsin back in June. (About 45 miles north of Green Bay.) And a nail from a high-powered nail gun ricocheted off a piece of wood . . . went into his chest . . . and hit his HEART.
He says it didn't really hurt much, so he thought it just nicked him. Then he realized the nail was embedded about two-and-a-half inches into his upper torso. And he could see it MOVING every time his heart beat. Luckily, he didn't pull it out. He says he thought about how Steve Irwin died when he pulled a stingray's stinger out of his heart. So he calmly drove himself to the E.R. instead . . . and was mostly just annoyed, because he knew it would take all day. (???)
An X-ray showed the nail was about a sixteenth of an inch from a major artery, so they rushed him to a hospital in Green Bay for surgery. He says he asked if he could DRIVE there instead of taking an ambulance, but they didn't let him. Luckily they got the nail out, and he's okay. He's been recovering at home for almost two months, and just got cleared to go back to work.
(AP / Huffington Post)
(Here's a photo of the nail sticking out of his chest. Warning: It's kind of gross.)
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