Submitted 9/01
On June 28, 2000 I received a call from my sister that our younger brother
Mark was seriously hurt at work and was on his way to Harborview. She did not know any details so I immediately left for the hospital. On my way to
the hospital I called my brothers work to try and find out more details, but all they kept telling me was I am so sorry. I arrived at the hospital
before any of the other siblings, there are 7 total. I told the triage nurse who I was and who I was looking for. She immediately took me to a
separate room and said this room is for the more serious cases and right now yours is the worse we have right now. The paramedic came in to talk with me
as well as a social worker and asked if I would like to speak with the Chaplin. I couldn't believe what was happening, but I still had not been
told what had happened. The paramedic began to tell me starting off with she was so sorry. She proceeded to tell me that when they had arrived at
the scene that my brother Mark was buried under a pile of fishing net and that no one had heard anything from him since he was buried. The forklift
operator was loading the netting into a shipping container and my brother was directing him on where he needed to put this netting. The forklift was
at a dead stop and about 8 feet into the container, my brother walk around to look how high it needed to go and in what direction, when all of the
sudden it started to fall on him, and continued to fall until he was totally buried. The forklift operator immediately told another worker to call 911
while he went to go get a forklift that had grabbers on it so he could try and lift the netting off of my brother. He returned with the other forklift
and tried to lift it off, but unfortunately because they were inside the container he could not lift it high enough to make a difference, and since
he did not know exactly where my brother was he did not want to hurt him any further. They had to wait until the fire department arrived and cut a whole
in the top of the container so the forklift could raise it high enough to get him out. When they did retrieve him he was not breathing and had been
folded in half front ways and was blue from the waste up. The were able to resuscitate him onsite with out a lot of difficulty but he had been buried
for approximately 20 minutes. He was a very strong healthy active person and they thought that is what saved his life. The paramedic said they were
evaluating his injuries and as soon as they knew anything the doctor would come out and talk to us. She left after giving me a hug (I was still there
by myself), after about a half an hour my brother Steve showed up and I proceeded to tell him the story, everyone else proceeded to show up shortly
after that as well as many of Mark's friends.
Mark sustained a fractured back (L1-T11), a broken pelvis, and both lungs
had been punctured and of course he was comatose. The doctor told us he would be paralyzed and would be a vegetable and asked if we wanted to
proceed with surgery. The family discussed it and determined that we would give Mark a fighting chance so off he went.
Mark was in a coma for about 4 weeks when he developed blood clots and was taken back to the emergency room at Harborview (he had been in a nursing
home). The doctors treated him and the doctor told us that Mark was in the awakening stage. He stayed for about 2 weeks and then was transferred to a
respitory clinic, because he had a new trac, he was there for about 3 weeks and then was transferred to a rehab clinic on the 2nd floor. Mark
progressed very well starting eating on his own (even McDonalds
cheeseburgers) and was alert and happy and even joking and playing ball. But he had progressed as far as they felt he would and told us that we had
to transfer him again. So off we went to another rehab facility only this time it was a ways from the rest of the family so we could not get down
there as often as we would have liked. Mark started to regress. He started pocketing his food and wasn't doing very well in therapy. After about 4
weeks the doctor informed us that Mark was ready to be discharged. I couldn't believe it, his eating was getting worse and he was doing well at
all. I talked to L&I after to doctor threatened to discharge Mark and then L&I would not pay anymore, L&I said that it was not true and talked to the
hospital who of course denied saying it, so they kept Mark for a few more weeks. They found out Mark was suffering from a large kidney stone and that
was why he was telling them he did not feel well and was not able to keep his food down. So he had surgery and a week later he was discharged,
although he was still pocketing his food. He went to an assisted living facility where his eating got worse. After about a month we took him to the
emergency room for dehydration. He had lost 30 lbs and looked terrible. He was there for about a week and they put the feeding tube back in. He was
then discharged to another rehab facility were he has been for 6 months. He does not talk much anymore, his incontinence has gotten worse, he has no
desire to do anything. I take him out every weekend and a couple of people see him during the week. I feel as though he is wasting away. I think he
needs more stimulation. It seems as though he was doing so much better when he first came out of the coma then he is doing now. I don't understand
why this is. He has not had the same doctor because doctors at Harborview do not follow patients once they leave, so it has been hard since we are the
only ones that are still around that can tell the doctors how he once was. We are trying to get him re-evaluated at a different facility and maybe
talked to some different therapist to see if they have any ideas for us.
Teresa Hanson sister to Mark Woehl, ABI June 28, 2000.
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