An Okanagan man’s family is asking for financial help after a 1,000-pound hay bale crushed his legs in Alberta earlier this week.
According to a GoFundMe page set up on Nov. 4, Cody Petrone is in critical condition at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary after he was pinned under a commercial-sized hay bale for eight hours.
By Tuesday (Nov. 5), the GoFundMe page had already raised $1,750 towards his medical costs.
An update on the page said the accident happened around 10:30 p.m. when he was dropping off commercial bales of straw from Saskatchewan to feedlots in Alberta to use for bedding and warmth for the cows.
“He went to unload the trailer, but unbeknownst to him it was sunk in the mud and on an angle (which he couldn’t see because it was dark), so when he let the straps go the whole load came down,” read the update.
“He was running away but a 1,000-pound bale landed on the back of his legs and pinned him and crushed them. He was there all night in -15 C temp. The farmer didn’t find him until 6:30 in the morning.”
Due to the circulation being cut off to his legs for so long the muscle tissue in his legs died and when the bail was lifted, the dead tissue released deadly toxins into his bloodstream.
After two days of flushing his body with saline doctors were able to stop the toxins from reaching his heart, however, Petrone is still on constant dialysis, because his kidneys shut down following the incident.
“They are not sure how much nerve damage to his legs. He cannot feel them right now, so they fear damage to the spinal canal. They will know more with MRI but not till next week when he is stronger,” states the webpage.
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