If you need to be reminded that even the most prosaic trip can have its risks, consider Dan Anders (61) from St. Petersburg, Florida. An avid outdoorsman, Anders was on a not-particularly-adventuresome trip through the West. Visiting the parks, driving aimlessly down back roads, collecting the odd garnet, negotiating his rental car through a herd of bison—the usual stuff. After three weeks, he and his wife stopped to visit friends in northern Minnesota and Dan was feeling “punky,” which in this case means a little out of sorts. (Other meanings: wanting to fight a kid from a rival high school, wanting to glue your hair into a mohawk.) In short order he was diagnosed with anthrax, received huge doses of antibiotics, spent some time on life support and is now pretty recovered. Because this was an especially lethal strain of anthrax (there are more victim-friendly forms of anthrax?) , Dan had about a 5 percent shot at survival. The guy has also survived car crashes, and being shot down over Vietnam, so this seems to fit nicely into the disaster-courting arc of his life.
Dan Anders isn’t the only tough old bird on the wires today. There’s also the 86-year-old guy from Arizona who fell in his backyard and impaled his face on pruning shears. That sounds dangerous, but even more so when you read that the shears were resting on the external carotid artery in his neck. But now he’s basically fine, too. (The weirdest part of this story is that you think he’d be impaled on the sharp point, but it was actually the handle.)
(Image via University of Arizona College of Medicine).
If you need to be reminded that even the most prosaic trip can have its risks, consider Dan Anders (61) from St. Petersburg, Florida. An avid outdoorsman, Anders was on a not-particularly-adventuresome trip through the West. Visiting the parks, driving aimlessly down back roads, collecting the odd garnet, negotiating his rental car through a herd of bison—the usual stuff. After three weeks, he and his wife stopped to visit friends in northern Minnesota and Dan was feeling “punky,” which in this case means a little out of sorts. (Other meanings: wanting to fight a kid from a rival high school, wanting to glue your hair into a mohawk.) In short order he was diagnosed with anthrax, received huge doses of antibiotics, spent some time on life support and is now pretty recovered. Because this was an especially lethal strain of anthrax (there are more victim-friendly forms of anthrax?) , Dan had about a 5 percent shot at survival. The guy has also survived car crashes, and being shot down over Vietnam, so this seems to fit nicely into the disaster-courting arc of his life.
Dan Anders isn’t the only tough bird on the wires today. There’s also the 86-year-old guy from Arizona who fell in his backyard and impaled his face on pruning shears. That sounds dangerous, but even more so when you read that the shears were resting on the external carotid artery in his neck. But now he’s basically fine, too. (The weirdest part of this story is that you think he’d be impaled on the sharp point, but it was actually the handle.)
(Image via University of Arizona College of Medicine).
