Photo: theage.com
When some people faint at the sight of a single drop of blood, one badass Australian grandpa actually drove himself to a hospital after slicing half his face with a chainsaw. And no, that’s not just a figure of speech.
The incident occurred back in 2016, but 68-year-old Bill Singleton is recalling it in a recent How I Survived podcast. He says he knew driving for almost 40 kilometers was his only option, because he refused to just lay down and die.
Singleton told his wife Lynette that was going out to chop some wood for the fire, got into his ute and went on a remote dirt road. Not much later, he stopped the ute and got out, and started making preparations to get to work.
“I sussed out a couple of good logs of timber and went back to my ute,” he says in the podcast. “I had two chainsaws, a small one and a big one. I got the big saw out, started it up, and of course it roared into action.”
He cut one piece of wood with it but something went wrong, and the chainsaw ricocheted and hit him square in the face. “I heard this crack. I didn't feel anything at the time, and I thought ‘oh my goodness’,” Bill says.
He didn’t know it right away, but he had managed to cut through his lower jaw, slice his tongue and knock most of his front teeth out. He could feel blood pouring freely but he didn’t feel much pain, so he put a handkerchief to his face and crawled to his car. Even so, Bill knew he would lose consciousness soon from the blood loss.
Once he got to the ute, he patched himself up as best as he could with gauze, and got behind the wheel. “What was I supposed to do? Sit myself down at the base of a tree and lean back and wait for the lights to go out?” he says. #Badass.
Eventually, Bill got to the hospital and passed out in the parking lot. Doctors worked on him for hours, stitching his face back up, but he still needed several more interventions and therapy to re-learn to talk because of nerve damage. At the time, doctors said he was lucky he didn’t look at himself in the rearview mirror, or he would have passed out from shock alone: he looked like a gunshot victim, something out of horror movies.
Today, Bill reckons the hardest part during recovery was not being able to eat a good steak. He is not afraid of chainsaws and still cuts his own wood.
Singleton told his wife Lynette that was going out to chop some wood for the fire, got into his ute and went on a remote dirt road. Not much later, he stopped the ute and got out, and started making preparations to get to work.
“I sussed out a couple of good logs of timber and went back to my ute,” he says in the podcast. “I had two chainsaws, a small one and a big one. I got the big saw out, started it up, and of course it roared into action.”
He cut one piece of wood with it but something went wrong, and the chainsaw ricocheted and hit him square in the face. “I heard this crack. I didn't feel anything at the time, and I thought ‘oh my goodness’,” Bill says.
He didn’t know it right away, but he had managed to cut through his lower jaw, slice his tongue and knock most of his front teeth out. He could feel blood pouring freely but he didn’t feel much pain, so he put a handkerchief to his face and crawled to his car. Even so, Bill knew he would lose consciousness soon from the blood loss.
Once he got to the ute, he patched himself up as best as he could with gauze, and got behind the wheel. “What was I supposed to do? Sit myself down at the base of a tree and lean back and wait for the lights to go out?” he says. #Badass.
Eventually, Bill got to the hospital and passed out in the parking lot. Doctors worked on him for hours, stitching his face back up, but he still needed several more interventions and therapy to re-learn to talk because of nerve damage. At the time, doctors said he was lucky he didn’t look at himself in the rearview mirror, or he would have passed out from shock alone: he looked like a gunshot victim, something out of horror movies.
Today, Bill reckons the hardest part during recovery was not being able to eat a good steak. He is not afraid of chainsaws and still cuts his own wood.
In @tennewsmelb at 5pm.
— Stephen Quartermain (@Quartermain10) June 1, 2016
We speak to "chainsaw man" Bill Singleton.
A miracle survival after a horrible accident. pic.twitter.com/evXeHq0GQJ
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