Posted: Nov 25, 2024 / 08:12 AM EST | Updated: Nov 25, 2024 / 08:15 AM EST
NIANTIC, Conn. (WTNH) — An Old Lyme dad is thankful this holiday season after making an incredible recovery from a devastating fall.
“I don’t go up there anymore, those days are done for me,” David Herrle, a contractor, said as he looked up at the spot where his life changed forever.
Six months ago, Herrle stepped on a loose joist while working on a construction project in Niantic.
He fell 16 feet, face-first onto a concrete slab.
“Evidently, I got up very angry and was very upset. I don’t remember any of it,” he said.
He was taken to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, poised for a Lifestar flight to Yale New Haven when a doctor stepped in and as a precaution, ordered one more test.
“They took me inside and did an MRI and an artery had broken in my brain. It was pushing my brain stem onto my spinal cord,” Herrle said. “I had less than 10 minutes to live.”
This father of two had broken bones around his eye and a severe head injury.
“I guess I sang ‘happy birthday’ to my daughter when I was missing her birthday but I don’t remember anything,” he said.
After time in the hospital, he was brought to Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in Wallingford in a wheelchair for rehabilitation.
“You’re forced to interact with people again, you’re forced to get up and not feel sorry for yourself,” he said. “You’re forced to see fifty other people in the same or worse condition as you.”
He worked on memory and movement, making incredible strides.
“I’m extremely grateful,” he said.
Despite having a titanium plate in his head, Herrle has made a miraculous recovery.
He said, “don’t sweat the small stuff” and is moving forward with a new perspective on life.
“There’s this one spot on Route 156 that I’ve always thought is beautiful and every time I pass it in my car, I say, ‘Grateful, fortunate, blessed, lucky,'” he said.
Herrle has lost his sense of smell. Otherwise, he’s back to his regular life, enjoying work and time with his wife and daughters.
Click here to learn more about Gaylord Specialty Healthcare.