vanders
Brownlow Medallist
This is from the AFL Website:
AFL boss: Day I almost died
Saturday, June 02, 2001
DOCTORS told AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson that a less fit man might not have survived a horrific fall that put him in intensive care last week.
Jackson fell from a stack of feed bales on a trailer at his farm at Willuka, 45km from Keith in South Australia's south-east.
He landed across the trailer's steel A-frame and smashed eight ribs. Some splinters of bone lodged next to his lungs and he was lucky not to rupture his spleen. Ligaments and cartilage were also severely damaged.
''I'm only thankful I wasn't a smoker because the medical staff told me, had I been, I would still be in intensive care battling for my life,'' Jackson said.
''Breathing became a major problem, but fortunately my lungs were in good shape.''
Jackson managed to stagger towards his homestead and was found by his daughter, Meridie.
''I lay on the ground for five minutes or so and then dragged myself up and made myself walk about 500 metres towards the homestead,'' Jackson said. ''I just felt I needed to do something.''
Meridie, 29, drove her father from the paddock to Keith where the Royal Flying Doctor Service flew him the 250km to Adelaide.
Jackson told his close friend, Adelaide football legend Neil Kerley: ''I hurt too much to cry.''
On the bumpy ride to Keith District Hospital, he felt ''dreadful'' and ''completely out of it''.
Jackson, who has more than 1200 breeding cows and 28 bulls on the 1800ha property, said: ''I'm going to be more careful and take note of the advice I've been given by Sir James Hardy and his wife Joan, who rang me in hospital.
''James has always said: 'Jacko, it's one hand for the boat and one hand for you.' He meant that when you're standing on anything that moves, hang on to something,'' Jackson said.
Kerley, coach of SANFL side Woodville when Jackson was president and team runner, said the scans on his friend's body showed the injuries were a lot worse than first thought.
''He knows he's a lucky bloke, but he's an old warrior and doesn't complain,'' Kerley said.
''He won't be working like that down there again without his guardian angel, me.''
Jackson asked the Sunday Herald Sun to ''give a plug'' for staff at Keith District Hospital and Adelaide's Calvary Hospital.
AFL boss: Day I almost died
Saturday, June 02, 2001
DOCTORS told AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson that a less fit man might not have survived a horrific fall that put him in intensive care last week.
Jackson fell from a stack of feed bales on a trailer at his farm at Willuka, 45km from Keith in South Australia's south-east.
He landed across the trailer's steel A-frame and smashed eight ribs. Some splinters of bone lodged next to his lungs and he was lucky not to rupture his spleen. Ligaments and cartilage were also severely damaged.
''I'm only thankful I wasn't a smoker because the medical staff told me, had I been, I would still be in intensive care battling for my life,'' Jackson said.
''Breathing became a major problem, but fortunately my lungs were in good shape.''
Jackson managed to stagger towards his homestead and was found by his daughter, Meridie.
''I lay on the ground for five minutes or so and then dragged myself up and made myself walk about 500 metres towards the homestead,'' Jackson said. ''I just felt I needed to do something.''
Meridie, 29, drove her father from the paddock to Keith where the Royal Flying Doctor Service flew him the 250km to Adelaide.
Jackson told his close friend, Adelaide football legend Neil Kerley: ''I hurt too much to cry.''
On the bumpy ride to Keith District Hospital, he felt ''dreadful'' and ''completely out of it''.
Jackson, who has more than 1200 breeding cows and 28 bulls on the 1800ha property, said: ''I'm going to be more careful and take note of the advice I've been given by Sir James Hardy and his wife Joan, who rang me in hospital.
''James has always said: 'Jacko, it's one hand for the boat and one hand for you.' He meant that when you're standing on anything that moves, hang on to something,'' Jackson said.
Kerley, coach of SANFL side Woodville when Jackson was president and team runner, said the scans on his friend's body showed the injuries were a lot worse than first thought.
''He knows he's a lucky bloke, but he's an old warrior and doesn't complain,'' Kerley said.
''He won't be working like that down there again without his guardian angel, me.''
Jackson asked the Sunday Herald Sun to ''give a plug'' for staff at Keith District Hospital and Adelaide's Calvary Hospital.
