Impaled teen: ‘I thought I was dead’
Liam Powell thought he was going to die when a sharp stake impaled his skull – but with the help of his quick-thinking friends, he miraculously survived.
The 15-year-old was playing with friends at in Beachlands, Auckland, 10 days before Christmas when a friend threw a real estate sign in the air. As Liam looked up, it pierced him in the skull, going 15cm in.
‘‘I thought I was going to die. It was like, you can just feel it,’’ he said. ’’I actually thought I was dead for the first couple of days.’’
Friends and his mother cradled his head to make sure the stake didn’t move, and stopped him from trying to pull it out.
Emergency service staff used cutting equipment to free the stake from his skull before a Westpac rescue helicopter airlifted him to Starship children’s hospital.
But on Boxing Day – his birthday – the teen took his first few steps since the accident. It was a moment Powell’s mother, Bridget Davy, would never forget.
She was grateful his friends did all the right things.
Powell has now returned to school and is skateboarding again. His sense of humour has also returned. Although he was ‘‘relieved’’ he did not die, he was also a little disappointed.
‘‘I was kind of sad, because I wouldn’t live for eternity.’’
❚ Powell’s rescue was filmed as part of Code: 1 which screens on Mondays at 8pm on TV One.
❚ To donate $3 to Auckland’s Westpac Rescue Helicopter, text CHOPPER to 8663