An Orange County firefighter who suffered spinal twine accidents in a September freeway rollover was launched from a Colorado rehabilitation facility Friday.
Firefighter Andrew Brown, who had feared being completely paralyzed when his crew truck crashed getting back from a wildfire, walked off a aircraft at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana to applause and cheers from household and fellow firefighters.
“I was very concerned if I was ever gonna be able to walk or move my arms again,” Brown advised KTLA-TV following almost two months of therapy at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., which makes a speciality of treating folks with mind and spinal accidents.
After almost two months of relearning methods to use his legs and arms, Orange County firefighter Andrew Brown returned house. Brown was one in every of eight OCFA hand crew members hospitalized Sept. 19 after their firetruck overturned whereas they have been on their means house from battling the Airport fireplace. “I thought I was going to die in that ambulance,” Brown mentioned.
(KTLA-TV)
Brown was one in every of eight members of the Orange County Hearth Authority’s Santiago Hand Crew damage within the Sept. 18 accident on State Route 241 in Irvine. The firefighters have been en route house from a shift combating the Airport fireplace, an enormous blaze that began in Trabuco Canyon and burned 1000’s of acres in Orange and Riverside.
With Brown’s launch, just one firefighter stays in a medical facility. That man, whose household has requested that he not be recognized publicly, can be present process therapy at Craig Hospital.
A ladder that fell from one other automobile triggered the accident. The driving force of the firetruck swerved across the ladder, ensuing within the truck putting a guardrail and flipping over.
Brown advised KTLA that he had no reminiscence of occasions from the time the truck started to tilt till he was exterior the automobile and severely injured.
“I thought I was going to die in the ambulance,” he advised the channel, including, “I was terrified — I was just praying that God would take care of my wife, who’s pregnant, and that was my biggest concern. That was all I could think about during that ambulance ride.”
He mentioned he was advised within the intensive care unit to count on to be bedridden for months. However by the start of October, medical doctors felt he was sturdy sufficient to journey to Colorado in a gurney for rehab. A contingent of firefighters escorted him to the airport.
In Colorado, he needed to relearn to make use of his legs and arms. He mentioned it was tough however that he had a robust motivation.
“I just wanna be able to support my wife and hold my daughter and play with her someday, and throw her in the air,” he advised KTLA.
