I scooped up my bowels after falling onto a saw then drove myself to hospital with them wrapped in a T-shirt
A RETIRED builder “scooped up his bowels” after falling onto a circular saw – then drove himself to hospital with them wrapped in a T-shirt.
Brendan Clancy was cutting pallets in his garden when he stumbled onto the 9in blade and sliced through his stomach.
Despite his innards spilling out, he calmly bundled them into an old top and made the 10-mile trip to A&E.
When he arrived, shocked medics called for extra help – and summoned an air ambulance to fly him for specialist treatment.
Dad-of-five Brendan has since made a full recovery with no lasting injuries other than a 12in scar.
The 67-year-old said: “I had a 4ft stack of pallets that I was cutting through and somehow, I lost my footing and fell onto the saw.
“At first, I had fallen on the back of the saw, and I thought, ‘That is going to hurt’.
“But then I felt something squidgy and I realised my bowels were coming out.
“I couldn’t believe it. They just kept coming out and it seemed as if it would never stop.”
Brendan found a bucket lying nearby on the floor, but decided it was too dirty to store his organs in.
Instead, he went back into the house, grabbed a T-shirt and made a make-shift sling.
“I must have been running on adrenaline,” he said.
“I knew I needed help but knew I couldn’t wait for help to arrive.”
He then made the journey to Ystradgynlais Community Hospital in Swansea.
Brendan, from Upper Cwmtwrch, said: “My wife Jayne was away in Carmarthen and my phone was in my pocket where my insides were spilling out so I drove myself.
“I was making sure I was keeping my senses and concentrating on the road while driving.
“I have a manual car, and all my guts were all over the gear lever side, but it helped to take my mind off it.
“When you are carrying your guts, you don’t think of anything else apart from keeping them all in one place.”
I felt something squidgy and I realised my bowels were coming out.
Brendan Clancy
Despite cutting through about 4in of his bowel, Brendan said there was no blood.
He did, however, get another nasty surprise.
“I could see my breakfast,” he said.
“When I got to the hospital, two ladies were coming out and said they were just about to close.
“They looked down and saw my bowel bag and my innards being outwards and called me an ambulance.
“It was only when I was put on a trolley, I felt the rush of pain.”
Brendan was then flown 50 miles by air ambulance to a hospital in Cardiff where he had a four-hour operation.
He said: “Getting off the trolley onto the stretcher was painful, but the crew were excellent and so reassuring.
“They gave me pain relief and I remember the trees turning pinkish and the clouds not looking right.
“One of the medics kept putting his thumb up to me and I did the same back.
“Within 15 minutes we were at the University Hospital of Wales.”
‘RUSH OF PAIN’
Brendan now wants to thank the Wales Air Ambulance charity and help raise the £11.2million it relies on every year to keep its four helicopters in flight.
He said: “I could not fault them; they were all absolutely fantastic.
“I have lived all over the world and to my mind there is no other service in this world that could better it.
“I appreciate how incredibly lucky I am to be alive and how lucky we are to have such an amazing service in this country.
“I want to thank everyone who helped me on the day of my accident.”
Professor David Lockey, director of the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service Cymru, was the critical care consultant who attended Brendan, alongside critical care practitioner Tom Archer.
He said: “It’s good to hear he has made such a speedy recovery.
“It is important to acknowledge the role of our colleagues in Ystradgynlais Community Hospital in this positive outcome, alongside clinicians in the University of Wales, Cardiff.
“Despite the positive outcome in this case, we would still advise anybody in an emergency situation to call 999 directly.
“It also serves as a reminder to everyone to be careful with power tools.”