Ozona man recovering at home

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r n BC-TX--ImpaledDriver Bjt 06-26 0458

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Associated Press Texas Wire News

Ozona man impaled by pipe recovering at home

By BETSY BLANEY= Associated Press Writer=

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - As Koerth drove his pickup to the

bank to Tuesday morning, the only thing he was counting were his blessings.

It was the first time the 42-year-old Ozona man drove since being

impaled by a metal pipe more than 2 inches in diameter.

``You do have a tendency to take things for granted and when

something like this happens, you realize nothing's for granted,'' said Koerth,

who was released from Medical Center in San Angelo on Monday.

The accident occurred June 13 as Koerth was leaving an oil well he

had just checked, part of his job as a field operator for Andarko Petroleum.

Traveling about 25 mph in his company truck, Koerth approached a

cattle crossing on a ranch road, intending to go through what he believed was an

open metal gate - the same one he had driven through minutes earlier.

But the gate, known as a single pipe gate, wasn't completely open.

The pipe pierced the pickup's headlamp, the dashboard, Koerth's

torso just to the right of his navel and the seat before it was stopped by a

metal box in the truck bed.

``It still seems unreal. It's so bizarre it just doesn't seem

possible. But I went through it so I know it's possible. It happened,'' he said.

Koerth, who said he didn't immediately realize he had been impaled,

then used his cell phone to call for help.

A few minutes later, another company worker, Vargas, happened

to drive by and stopped to help.

``He opened my door, said, 'Oh, God!' and shut my door,'' Koerth

told the San Angelo Standard Times. ``That's when I started getting nervous.''

Rescuers arrived soon thereafter and cut the end of the pipe off in

the back of his truck

Conscious throughout the hour-long rescue, Koerth watched as the

pipe was cut six inches in front of his stomach. An inch one way or the other

and Koerth's aorta would have been torn or his spinal cord severed, Koerth said.

He has flown by helicopter to the San Angelo hospital with a short

section of pipe still imbedded in his body.

It took surgeons about six hours to reattach his small intestine to

his colon. They had to remove his appendix and a part of one of his ribs.

Koerth credits paramedics and medical personnel with saving his

life, and said he felt that God was watching over him.

``I just feel like He has something else for me to do and it wasn't

my time yet,'' Koerth said. ``I'm going to become a better Christian and try to

live my life the way God would want me to. It's kinda like having a whole new

outlook. I do have an opportunity now to be a better person.''

AP-WS-06-26-01 1842EDT