I’M NOT GOING TO WALLOW IN PITY
He had to have more than half his body amputated after a forklift accident, but Loren is grateful to be alive
HE WAS driving a 4-ton forklift over a highway bridge when cars started to pass him illegally despite there being only one lane. At one point he veered too close to the side of the bridge and it started to crumble.
Construction worker Loren Schauers tried to jump from the falling machinery but his leg became trapped by the seatbelt. Machine and man plummeted a terrifying 15m down a steep hill and rolled three times before coming to a stop.
Loren (20), who’s from Montana in the US, managed to survive – but barely.
Then he watched in horror as the massive forklift fell towards him.
“I was conscious the whole time,” he told British news service SWNS. “My eyes were wide open and I saw the forklift come down and land on my hips and right forearm.”
It was an unbelievable sight. “I remember looking to my right with the forklift on top of my body and there was a big old piece of muscle from my arm just lying on the ground next to me. It had just blown apart instantly from the impact.”
Loren (then 18) was in complete shock. In addition to his crushed arm, he had several broken ribs and his pelvis and hip bone appeared to be crushed too.
He had to wait nearly 15 minutes for the forklift to be hoisted off his body so medical personnel could try to save him. And then they ended up going from one hospital to another to find one that could treat injuries as severe as his.
The diagnosis was devastating: surgeons had to perform a hemicorporectomy to save him. The rare and risky surgery involves removing the legs, genitalia, urinary system, pelvic bones, anus and rectum – essentially more than half of Loren’s body. His right arm also had to be amputated.
He had to make the final decision about whether to go ahead and doctors left him with no illusions about the risks.
But Loren’s will to live triumphed over any fear of death.
“He looked them dead in the eye,” says his wife, Sabia Schauers-Reiche. “And he told them he doesn’t care if he’s just a head on a plate, they’re going to do the surgery and they’re going to keep him alive.”
‘MY EYES WERE WIDE OPEN AND I SAW THE FORKLIFT COME DOWN’
SURGEONS told Loren he’d probably be dead within a month. But three years later he and Sabia (23) have released a video to show how he’s adapted following the horrific accident.
After the intense surgery Loren needed a breathing tube because his lungs collapsed. Things went from bad to worse – he caught pneumonia while on the breathing tube, had a blood clot in one of his lungs and developed an abdominalabscess infection.”
But through it all he kept fighting, with Sabia at his side. The couple had been together for 18 months at the time of the accident and wed in a simple and emotional ceremony last year.
“You’re the most beautiful and sincere soul I’ve ever met and I always thought I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you,” Sabia said at the wedding. “When I had a small taste of what life without you would be like, I knew in that moment that I never wanted to face the trials life would present without you by my side. I promise to forever love you.”
She’s now Loren’s primary caregiver. She helps him to get dressed, changes his bandages, helps him into his wheelchair and empties out and replaces his nephrostomy and colostomy bags, which drain urine and faeces from his body.
She was stunned when she saw him for the first time after surgery, Sabia says. “I’m not going to lie. I thought they brought us into the wrong room.”
She got over her shock quickly and focused on the task at hand – caring for Loren and loving him above all else. In the video it shows how she helps him to deal with the phantom pains he experiences by rolling a rolled-up yoga mat over his back to allow his body to stretch.
The video also shows Loren’s attempts to adjust to rehab and physical therapy as he lifts weights, stretches and learns to move around. Over time, he’s gained strength and learnt how to balance and use his wheelchair.
He wouldn’t have been able to do it without Sabia, Loren says. “If she hadn’t stayed by my side, I probably wouldn’t have survived.”
The physical agony can sometimes be difficult to deal with. Loren’s pain can become so intense that his arm spasms and he needs heavy pain medication.
“He takes other meds for pain but stays away from narcotics while at home so as to not feel dependent on them,” Sabia says.
He’s tried to maintain a sense of humour despite all the challenges. “It’s not anyone else’s fault my pain exists,” Loren says. “I’m not going to sit here and wallow. I’m still going to try to be as jolly as I can, even though I’m dying in pain at times.”
FOR Loren, the hardest thing to come to terms with is the fact that he and Sabia can’t have children.
Doctors initially tried to save some of his sperm but realised it wasn’t viable.
“I didn’t cry about not having legs or a pelvis,” he says. “The only thing I cried about was not being able to have kids of our own genes.”
While the couple are open about the struggles they face, they draw the line at discussing their sex life.
“A question we get repeatedly is how do we have sex and how do we become intimate?” Sabia shared in a recent YouTube video.
“That’s a personal question we’re never going to answer or allude to, as it’s disrespectful,” she said. “You wouldn’t ask a random couple on the street how they have sex and just because our life circumstances are different doesn’t give people the right to ask.” Loren is just grateful to be alive. “I have a simple life now,” he says. “There’s a lot more lying around than before.
“[But] it was about three months after the accident that I finally wrapped my head around how crazy and miraculous it really is for me to be alive.”
They try to focus on the positive. They’ve grown their family by adding Atlas, a new dog, to their brood, which already consists of two cats.
All they want is for Loren to get stronger. Their poignant video ends with them moving into their new home as Loren patiently waits for the arrival of his new bionic arm.
“It’s been a long and wild journey,” they share at the end of the video. “And we can’t wait to see where else life will take us and we hope we can continue taking you all along with us.”
HE’S been called The Terminator because of his almost superhuman ability to move around the pitch. Marking him is like going up against a guy with two extra legs, his opponents say – he’s everywhere all at once, darting around the opposition, getting himself into position to score again and again and again.
Pundits have described Erling Haaland as the most formidable forward in the world right now and one of the most exciting players the game has seen in a while.
It’s no exaggeration. The Norwegian recently made history by scoring hattricks in three successive home games for Manchester City.
First up was the Crystal Palace clash where the 22-year-old scored three times in his team’s 4-2 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Next up was his much-lauded “perfect hat-trick” during City’s 6-0 drubbing of Nottingham Forest: one goal with his left foot, another with his right, the third with his head.
Then there was the recent Manchester derby where Erling helped break the hearts of millions of Man United fans by scoring three of City’s goals in their 6-3 crushing of the Red Devils.
A few days later, Erling was at it again in a match against Copenhagen FC – although he “only” scored two goals on this outing. The 1,95m-tall forward has scored an astonishing 20 goals in just 14 appearances for his club, and is being touted as the next Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
City manager, Pep Guardiola, is delighted with his strapping star. “He has a special talent,” he says.
“Hopefully he can help us with the Premier League and Championship League. He has a special quality.”
Rumours have surfaced that there might be a release clause in Erling’s contract for Real Madrid in the future but Guardiola says it’s not true.
“He has adapted really well and I have the feeling he is incredibly happy here. We will try, as with all the people who want to stay here, to make them happy. That is the most important thing.”
The money must certainly be making Erling happy – he earns a staggering £385 000 (R77 million) a week. But for the young player, it’s about more than the money – it’s about making his family proud too.
FOR Erling, it all started w i th his dad, Alf-Inge Haaland, a pro footbal ler who played for Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City – the very club where his son is now making his mark. Three years after Erling was born in 2000, Alf-Inge was forced to
‘I BELIEVE HE WILL BE ONE OF THE TOP TWO OR THREE PLAYERS OF THE FUTURE’
retire because of injuries, and he and his family left the UK and returned to Norway. Alf-Inge took up a new job as a property developer, but he encouraged his son to play the sport he loved and it wasn’t long before Erling was following in his dad’s footsteps.
At age five, he joined a football academy and immediately impressed coach Alf Ingve Berntsen.
“He was a little smaller than his opponents because he was a year younger,” he recalls. “But even if his opponent was significantly taller, he kept scoring goals.
“When he was 11 or 12, we knew he’d go far. We already knew back then that he had what it takes to be a youth international.”
He was right. Soon Erling was playing for Norway’s under-15 side and international clubs started to notice him. He played for several local sides before making his international debut in 2019 with Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of €20m (R352m).
In his first game for the club, he came on as a second-half substitute and scored a hat-trick within 23 minutes, securing Dortmund a 5-3 win over FC Augsburg. He struggled with hamstring and hip injuries in 2021, but when he made his return in November, he scored his 50th Bundes l iga goal in a 3-1 victory over Wolfsburg and became the youngest player in the league to achieve that feat. Then Manchester City came knocking and announced they’d signed a five-year contract with Erling after activating his €60 million release clause. “He is a huge talent and has been one of the best strikers in Europe over the last few seasons,” says Txiki Begiristain, Man City’s director of football. “His goalscoring record is exceptional and his performances at Borussia Dortmund
and in the Champions League have proved he can succeed at the highest level.” For Erling, signing for the glamour club was a special moment. “My father played at City and I was born in Manchester, but moving back to England is a bit special,” he says. “When I talked to my mum, she wanted me to move to England because she lived here for over 10 years, so it’s nice. “And I think I can achieve what I want here. We have all the things together that can make something big happen and I want to be a part of that. I want to play good football, to enjoy, to win – all these kinds of things. That’s why I came.”
SPORT runs deep in the veins of Erling and his older siblings, brother Astor and sister Gabrielle. Their mom, Gry Marita Braut, was a heptathlete for Norway, and both parents encouraged him to follow his football dream. He grew up watching City and has always liked the side’s style of play. “You can’t help but admire them,” he says. “Their style is exciting and they create a lot of chances, which is perfect for a player like me.”
Gary Neville, former England and Manchester United player, says Erling is hugely talented. “I just have to say that I’m massively impressed with him,” he said in a recent podcast. “I believe he will be one of the top two or three players in the world for the future.”
If he isn’t on the field training or booting balls into the back of the net, he’ll probably be meditating.
“I train a lot and I meditate a lot,” says Erling, who has become known for celebrating his goals with his signature Zen pose.
“I want to show the whole world that meditation is an important thing.
“I also like playing Fifa with my boys and I enjoy kebab pizza.”
Being at the Sky Blues is where he wants to be, Erling says. “I want to score goals, win trophies and improve as a footballer and I’m confident I can do that here.
“I believe I’m in the right place to fulfil my ambitions.”