A man miraculously survived after a steel rod impaled his head in a horror accident, leaving him just millimetres from death.
Roof painter Michael Richard is lucky to be alive after the freak incident that saw him fall from the ground floor roof of a two-storey home.
He tried to stand up after hitting the ground but struggled to do so, and it turns out he had landed on a piece of steel bar that was sticking out from the ground.
The metal bar pierced through his neck and out the back of his skull, with co-workers acting quickly to use bolt cutters to free the rod from the ground.
This allowed Michael, from Texas, US, to stand up, with around 60cm of the metal rod sticking out from his head, Yahoo News reports.
Doctors told the experienced painter that the rod was “just millimetres” from hitting his voice box, his spinal cord and vital arteries, with paramedics saying they had never seen anything like it before.
One of those paramedics who rushed to the scene, Ashley Thomason, told 12NewsNow: “We can train for this all day long, it’s almost 20 years for me, and I’ve never seen anything like this and I probably never will again.
“The biggest thing was keeping him calm, stabilising his neck and just getting him to the closest trauma centre so they can take over from there.”
Michael is the sole money earner for his family and will now be taking some time off work to fully recover from the harrowing ordeal.
The surgery was completed in an hour and he was put on a liquid diet for two days afterwards, and a GoFundMe page has now been set-up to help him on his journey to full health as he has no medical insurance.
On his page, he gratefully added: "The doctor said it was millimetres from severing several vital arteries and damaging my esophagus and voice box.
"The rebar did nick a minor jugular vein but the vascular surgeon was able to patch it right up."
After the terrifying accident, Michael is now urging everyone to make the most of each day.
"If you love someone tell them," he said.
"If you need to help someone or lift them up, do it. You never know how long you have sometimes just millimetres."
He added: "I fell off a first floor roof landed on a piece of rebar sticking out of the ground my co worker was able to cut the rebar releasing me from the ground so I could be rushed to St Elizabeth's.
"The trauma team of doctors and nurses were ready to go into action.
"I was able see my wife and brother in law before they took me back for emergency surgery. The doctors performed the surgery without a hitch."
