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Yes, please. That was the worst part was how slow it was because I had time to consider I'm probably dying and I'm just profoundly sad that I won't get to see my kids grow up and how much I'm going to miss them. Philip Paul is talking about the moment his life changed forever. In March, the Ohio resident who was a maintenance worker for Hawking Hills State Park was internally decapitated when a tree he was moving fell on him and his tractor. You okay? Hey. It was an incredibly windy day, topping out at 60 mph. Me and a coworker were driving down the highway to go get our tractor to bring it back to the shop. We had been using it to move gravel and there was a tree blocking our path on
the highway. So I said, "Hey, I'll go walk, get the tractor. You go get a chainsaw. We can get this cleaned up. Get the road open." I just started pushing on this tree. It was bowing and bending under the pressure of the tractor, building an incredible amount of potential energy. And I lifted the bucket after I got the big tree off the road. And that uh branch about or whatever tree this big around it swung back on me, struck me across the chest and shoulders. You okay? Hey.
It hit me so hard. I was uh stunned. You know, I couldn't move, but I could think here and see. And I remember blood dripping off my forehead and chin. Columbus 3463, call Southeast. I need 911 to my location now. The tractor continued to roll forward very, very slowly cuz I couldn't move. My foot was still on the gas pedal. So, it was rolling and the tree that struck me stayed in front of me. The tractor pushed me into it, pushing my head back and back until there was enough sufficient pressure to pull my skull off my C1 vertebrae. My
head popped off my spine. I mean, it was it never hurt. Even getting struck by the tree, there was no pain. I probably went into shock, but um there was no pain, but there was pressure and then just like when you pull a chicken leg off of a rotisserie chicken, just that cartilage bone cracking pop. I felt and heard that. I was able to drag my feet to the right of the vehicle. And so I was like, "Wow, I can think here and see and I can move my feet." But yeah, they got me onto the backboard and into the ambulance and then uh cutting my pants off was the last thing I remember cuz they hit me with morphine or fentinol and I lost consciousness. As his co-workers rushed to his rescue
and police closed down the highway, Philillip sat on his tractor, conscious but motionless as paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital. I heard the officer call. There's a tree on him and he was very frantic, but he ran down and he turned off the tractor, stopping it from rolling more, causing more damage. My coworker Darren put a towel over my face and then my coworker Trevor started up the chainsaw and it was such a beautiful sound and then they cut the limb off of me. another officer, Braun, and the assistant park supervisor, Joel Yote. They were on scene. And Bronn had served in the military with some medic experience. So, he had the confidence and skills to get a collar like the one I'm wearing
now. And him and Joel stabilized my neck, preventing my neck from moving around, damaging the spinal cord. Grab his neck. What do you need me to do? His neck. Do not let it loose. Got him. Philip was brought to Ohio Health Trauma Unit where he was quickly treated by neurosurgeon Dr. Victor Awar. So the medical term we use to describe this is atlanto occipital dissociation uh or AO dislocation. an atlanto occipital dislocation that in essence is an internal decapitation where the skull is not attached to the spine. Unfortunately with these injuries most patients die at the scene or if they end up coming to the hospital a lot of patients end up having severe
disabilities because of injury to the brain stem which is really between the brain and the spinal cord. There's a portion there that controls things that we don't even think about like breathing, your heart, and that area is usually injured when your skull detaches from your spine. He was already on a ventilator when I saw him. So, our goal really at this point is stabilize the neck and reattach the skull to the spine to restore the stability in that area. So, uh, I have to build a bridge, uh, between the skull where I put a plate and some screws into his skull and then put some screws into the spine as well. And then we connect these two um, stabilization points with rods and that creates that bridge between the skull
and the spine and that's where he gets his stability from. Going through the hospital process was very difficult. They had to restrain me for good reason because I was suffering from immense regret and I was really mad mostly at myself. And then on the drip feed I was so hungry, so thirsty, but they couldn't give me water cuz I would aspirate. I had to relearn how to swallow for weeks. I was eating like thickened broth and thickened water and I mean that stuff doesn't uh quench you like water. It just did not feel real at first. It felt like there's no way like he's so strong and so solid. When we went in the ambulance up to
Columbus, it just felt like the news kept getting worse. Okay, he might be paralyzed. And they did the CAT scan and it showed, you know, all the ligaments and tendons, all that stuff that's, you know, protecting your neck is all damaged. You know, a ton of painkillers because of the injury and, you know, he's confused. He has double vision. He woke up with double vision. And so I mean it I just felt so helpless in the hospital cuz it was like I know he is terrified and scared and angry and like I can't do anything to help. We see a lot more of these kinds of injuries than probably the average neurosurgeon. A lot of patients with this kind of injury don't end up in the operating room because they pass
unfortunately before the surgical intervention. slide him on that on up towards you. In his case, the workers on the field did a great job bringing him to us in a adequate amount of time where we could stabilize him and take care of his situation, but a lot of it is Philip's determination to get better and is him pushing himself. Baby, you're amazing. By the grace of God, I mean, he's doing well and he's he's recovering. Philip is back home with his partner and their two young children and is learning how to redo things he once took for granted. When I moved my feet, I did have some higher level of confidence that I would be okay. Having something happen way up high on your spinal column is terrible
cuz everything below that could be affected and I'm moving the lowest part of my body. So I was like, "Okay, that's pretty good." And I mean, just every everyone who was there helping me, I mean, they had to have been guided by God because everything they did was correct. Shutting the tractor off, getting the limb off of me, stabilizing my neck, it all went perfect to ensure I can walk. I can walk upstairs. I can follow my kids through the yard. His partner, Haley Davidson, says she is in awe of how Philip is handling this and how she is adapting to this new life as well as teaching their children how delicate their father is. Now, our son, our oldest, he kind of understood it. Like when I would leave
to go see Philip in the hospital, he'd say, "Doctor, daddy." And I'd say, "Yep, I'm going to the doctor to see daddy." And once he was out of the ICU, we were able to bring the kids in to see him. And that was really special. And you know, when we first met, we were both young single people, didn't have kids, just in really different places. And I've watched him just change and grow. And it's really like inspiring, you know? It is because this accident happened and like he's been working at Hawking Hills less than two years, but still all his co-workers and all the people he works with just came through for us and you know set up a meal train for the kids and I and you know just taking care of everything.
As Philip recovers, medical bills are mounting up and close friends started a GoFundMe to help pay for expenses. Philip also credits Haley with holding things down while he recovers. She learned how to do trait care when they sent me home with a hole in my neck and she learned how to clean it and bandage it. And she's been changing the bandages on the healing wound and helping me shower. and uh she shaved me up and cut my hair. Yeah, she's a wonderful, you know, caretaker and well, fiance, too. We still have a lot to go through, a lot of healing and stuff, but now it just it feels just hopeful, you know, every day now things are getting better.
For Inside Edition Digital, I'm Sal Bono.
