WALKING AWAY BETTER THAN LOTTO WIN
Truck driver’s lucky escape
BRAD Fetherstone says walking uninjured from the Toowoomba Hospital emergency department after he was pinned under a truck for two hours is a better feeling than winning $100 million.
The experienced truck driver and farmer considers himself incredibly lucky to be alive.
BRAD Fetherstone feared the worst as he lay pinned under the cabin of a gravel truck for more than two hours while emergency services worked to free him on Monday.
He could feel and move his toes but, due to his position under the overturned truck on Dalby Downs Rd at Kaimkillenbun, emergency responders had also feared critical, lifethreatening injuries.
But Mr Fetherstone, 43, has stunned medical staff with his lucky escape, walking from the Toowoomba Hospital emergency department with barely a limp and some neck pain yesterday after being airlifted from the scene about 7pm Monday.
“To walk out of hospital is probably the best feeling,” Mr Fetherstone said.
“That’s better than winning $100 million - to walk, and a lot of people don’t have that privilege, I suppose.”
He had been on his last gravel delivery on Monday when, about 4.55pm, he lined up the truck on uneven ground.
Realising the error, he realigned the truck and tried again to dump the load when he felt the prime mover begin to topple.
“I can still remember the semi-trailer tipping; I can still feel the feeling of it tipping over,” he said.
“I felt it go and it went pretty quick, and I felt myself go to the left-hand side of the truck and I realised my leg was jammed and I couldn’t get out.”
Able to reach his mobile phone and make a call in an area known for being a reception blackspot, Mr Fetherstone raised the alarm with his workmate who called paramedics and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services crews.
His brother-in-law, a firefighter, was among the first on scene.
“I can just remember seeing his face in the front windscreen and he goes, ‘we’ll get you out, we’ll get you out mate’,” Mr Fetherstone recalled.
He was airlifted about 7pm Monday, and discharged about 11.30am yesterday.
He escaped the ordeal without any broken bones and scans have cleared him of blood clotting risks.
“I just want to thank everyone who really has been involved in the whole process,” he said.
“I just can’t thank anyone more than what people have done for me. I’m just one person who was lucky but there are a lot of people in crisis point in the drought and I don’t think a lot of people understand what’s going on out there.”
TO WALK OUT OF HOSPITAL IS PROBABLY THE BEST FEELING.
BRAD FETHERSTONE