When I said I wanted my toe nail cutting...
DOCS CHOP HEAD OFF 2.5 INCH PIN TO FORCE IT THROUGH ROOFER’S FOOT AFTER PAINFUL ACCIDENT
A ROOFER had to cut off his own boot with a Stanley knife – after accidentally shooting a nail all the way through his toe and out the other side.
Rob Owen, 36, came by his unfortunate injury when he tripped at work.
As he leaned forward to break his fall, he tapped the gun off his boot, which triggered the release of a high-speed 2.5 inch nail straight into his left big toe.
Working two floors up, the dadof-two hobbled down the 20ft high scaffolding and off to hospital.
However, Rob’s problems didn’t end there as medics couldn’t do an X-ray while he was wearing his metal-tipped boot.
So, after waiting for five hours, brave Rob, from Stockport, took matters into his own hands, and grabbed the Stanley knife from his pocket to cut his boot and reveal his toe pinned to the sole of his boot. Doctors couldn’t pull it out because of rivets along the nail, so had to cut the head off and PUSH it through the bottom of his foot. The nail had gone through the bone, but Rob, said: “I was in shock.
The adrenalin was really pumping. It all happened so quickly – in a split second.
“I didn’t realise at first, then I saw the nail sticking out the top of my boot. I’m just so lucky.
“It was a clean hole right through the bone in my toe, so there was no bleeding. Otherwise I could have bled to death in my boot.
“It was almost comical seeing this boot sole pinned to my foot, like something out of a joke shop.”
Rob, a roofer from age 18, screamed when he shot himself, which alerted a colleague who drove him five miles to Wythenshawe hospital, in Manchester.
The dad to Amelia, 15, and Heidi, five, had to take five weeks off work following the accident in September. Married Rob added: “I’ll be more cautious when I’m using a nail gun now. If one was to hit you in the head you’d be dead.”