DENVER (AP) — Jon Hutt was doing logging work all alone in a remote Colorado forest when his six-ton trailer fell onto his right foot.
The pain was excruciating, no one was around to hear his cries for help and he couldn't free himself from the big piece of equipment.
Montrose Colo., resident John Hutt demonstrates how he cut off his toes. (AP)
So he pulled out his 3-inch pocket knife and cut off his toes to get free.
"It hurt so bad," the 61-year-old Hutt said, "I would cut for a while and then I had to rest."
Hutt then climbed into his semi tractor-trailer, his foot wrapped in a shirt, and began driving for help.
Hutt's ordeal was first reported in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
Hutt, who runs a crane business and does logging "for fun," had gone into the woods by himself on Aug. 19 to retrieve a pile of fallen aspen trees to cut for winter firewood.
A trailer that was attached to his truck slipped and landed on his foot.
The wiry, 180-pound man told The Associated Press that he began cutting off his toes about 30 minutes later when he realized no one could hear his cries.
Hutt said he couldn't reach his cell phone, which was in his truck and out of range anyway.
Hutt told his wife he would be back in several hours from a job 50 miles away, but he did not know when she might start searching for him.
"I cut off my boot to see my foot, and once I realized how bad it was, I started cutting off my toes," Hutt said.
Once he freed himself, Hutt stopped the bleeding with the shirt and drove toward his home outside Montrose, about 175 miles southwest of Denver.
He called for help once he was in cell phone range. An ambulance met him on the way.
Hutt said authorities retrieved his severed toes and took them to the hospital, but doctors said the toes couldn't be re-attached because they were too badly mangled.
"They told me there was no hope for them. They said there was nothing to attach the toes to," he said.
Instead, doctors sewed his foot shut and wrapped it in bandages. Doctors warned him he may face more surgery.
Hutt, who has also worked as a miner, ran a saw mill, built log houses and grew up on a ranch, said his wife met him at the hospital and asked him if he was OK.
"There was no crying or whining," he said.
His wife, Margaret, said she didn't worry because she knew her husband might be gone for most of the day, but she started shaking when she got a message he left on her cell phone: "Please call, I cut my foot off."
She said she was only slightly relieved when she found out it was his toes.
Hospital spokeswoman Leann Tobin said Hutt was released on Aug. 22.
Hutt said he never thought about the 2003 ordeal of Aaron Ralston, who amputated his right arm after it was pinned beneath a boulder in a Utah canyon, until someone reminded him about it at the hospital.
Ralston's story became the subject of the movie "127 Hours."
<한글기사>
美노인, 트레일러전복후 발가락잘라 생존
미국의 한 노인이 무너진 트레일러에 낀 자신의 발가락을 자르고 살아남아 화제가 되고있다.
AP등 외신에 따르면 지난달 중순쯤 존 허트 (61)라는 벌목자가 콜로라도 주 숲속에서 6톤짜리 트레일러가 자신의 오른쪽 발 위로 무너지자 주머니속에 있던 3인치짜리 칼로 발가락들을 하나씩 잘랐다고.
허트는 트레일러가 짖누르는 고통도 심했지만, 발가락을 자르는 과정도 너무 힘들어 쉬어가면서 잘라냈다.
이 노인은 발가락을 다 잘라내고 입고 있던 셔츠로 지혈을 한뒤 자신의 트럭에 기어올라가 혼자 운전을 한 뒤 구조를 요청했다.
중장비사업을 하는 허트는 취미인 벌목을 하던중 사고를 당했다. 겨울에 쓸 장작을 구하기위해 쓰러진 나무들을 모으는 작업중있었다고.
작업도중, 그의 트럭과 연결되어있던 트레일러 연결 고리가 빠졌고 차체가 자신의 발위로 무너진것.
사고후 30분동안 구조를 요청하며 소리를 질러댔지만 주변에 사람이 없어 구조가 불가능해지자 고통스러웠지만 최선인 방법을 선택했다고.
그는 "내 발을 보기위해 부츠를 잘라냈고, 심하게 다친 발가락들을 보고나서 잘라내기 시작했다"고 말했다.
허트는 사고현장을 떠나 핸드폰 신호가 잡히는 곳에 다다르자 119에 전화를 걸어 구조대를 가까스로 만날수있었다.
구조대원들이 잘라낸 발가락들을 주어담아 병원에 가져갔지만, 심하게 손상된터라 의학적으로 다시 살려내기란 불가능했다고.
(Herald Online)
