Woke up on the ground

I saw that my colleague managed to cling up there and thought: "Good. At least he will be ok". Then I woke up on the ground when the ambulance arrived. I tried to stand up, but could not.

At the hospital, they told me I had a leg and an arm fracture, and said that I would soon be on my feet again. But it turned out that the foot and my back were severely injured. I was rushed to Uppsala, where I was met by a doctor directly at the ambulance. When he lifted my injured leg, my knee turned in the wrong direction.

Covered with plaster and bandage

I endured many surgeries. First my back, then the leg and knee. I was covered with plaster and bandages and had to lie on a moving mattress to avoid bedsores. After two weeks in Uppsala, it was three months at Västerås hospital, where I lay in a special bed with a machine that bent the broken knee.

I had great support from my wife all the time, and at home, the parents-in-law helped with the children and much more.

The wheelchair weighed a ton.

Once I got home, it was in a wheelchair that weighed a ton, and I went back to the hospital twice a week to learn to stand and walk. Eventually, I was ready for job training and became employed at the company I worked for, which gave me a chance for a new career.

Many years later, I still have pain everywhere and am waiting for new knees and new hips. But life turned out pretty well in the end, and I thank my family and friends for that. They were there when it was at its worst. So never give up, no matter how bad it gets. But above all: always use the protective equipment available.

/Hans