A Colorado man survives the loss of both legs in a wood chipper accident

Broomfield resident John O’Neill was out of rehab, in stable housing, sober and finally found a job he loved: tree work.

But after 15 minutes on his first day, the 33-year-old found himself fighting for his lifeholding the edge of a wood chipper as the blades smashed through his legs underneath. Later, in a helicopter en route to the hospital, O’Neill “technically” died.

“My heart stopped. …They basically replaced all the blood in my body,” O’Neill said.

On the morning of September 24, the day after the incident, O’Neill woke up in a hospital bed. He had received about 15 pints of blood and was about to receive more.

“I was in excruciating pain,” O’Neill recalled. “I felt like my legs were broken. It took me a minute to realize and remember what had just happened.

When he looked down, O’Neill saw only a barren bedscape: his legs were gone.

Then the memories of what happened the day before in Longmont came flooding back to him.

“It went from a fight for my limb to a fight for my life”

At 10:18 a.m. on September 24, O’Neill had just started working on the wood chipper in the 900 block of Emery Street in Longmont.

He had just put a fishhook-shaped branch into the chipper when the blades turned the hook of the branch. The wood became wedged under his court-ordered ankle monitor and began dragging him into a wood chipper.

“Something happened in my brain that made me realize I was afraid of much more than just losing my leg or foot,” O’Neill said.

At that moment, O’Neill dove up and grabbed the edge of the wood chipper and held on for dear life.

“The pain was bad – it was almost not there,” O’Neill recalled. “I didn’t feel the pain that much, but I knew I was in trouble. It went from a fight for my limbs to a fight for my life, very quickly.”

The blades made clean cuts through his boots, then into his feet, down both legs and over the knee.

“I screamed for help, but everyone had hearing protection on,” O’Neill said. “It took a minute for my colleagues to realize what was happening.”

Although the incident lasted only a few seconds, O’Neill’s thoughts went out to his loved ones. He even remembered his high school wrestling coach.

“I thought about my mother and my friends and people who looked up to me and people who needed me and people who counted on me and people who taught me how to fight,” O’Neill said.

It was only when the knives hit his mid-thigh that his colleagues were able to pull him out.

“I looked down and saw something that looked like what you see in the movies,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill saw skin, bones, arteries, muscle tissue and an enormous amount of blood flowing from his body. He grabbed a nearby rope and worked with his colleagues to create a makeshift tourniquet.

“I didn’t panic, I stayed calm,” O’Neill said, adding: “My colleague said I was very cognitive all the time.”

O’Neill said he tried to slow his breathing to slow his heart rate to ultimately buy him more time. However, he began to lose consciousness when his new colleagues tried to keep him awake with sternum rubs.

“I disappeared, but my colleagues kept me alive,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill said police arrived very quickly and were applying tourniquets. He was taken to a local hospital and then flown via Flight For Life to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood.

O’Neill declined to say which company he worked for or whether he plans to file a lawsuit. O’Neill did criticize the design of the ankle bracelets and said he “firmly believes” that if he had not been wearing the ankle bracelet he could have been released.

“Mom, I’m going to be able to help so many people”

The next day, the first person O’Neill called was his mother, who lives in New Jersey. When she heard the news, she fell into “such a panic” that she had to be hospitalized for three days.

“I didn’t know what to think and I couldn’t imagine what had happened,” Barbara O’Neill said.

Barbara O’Neill said her son hasn’t really talked about the loss of his legs and has instead made jokes and “tried to be strong for everyone else.”

“I think John has a knack for focusing on the person in the room who looks a little intimidated… or someone who just looks like he could use someone to talk to,” said Barbara O’Neill . “He makes them feel comfortable. He really has a heart for that.”

John O’Neill said that in addition to seeing all the friends and family he hasn’t seen in years, he has also reconnected with his high school wrestling coach.

“I had to reconnect with him and tell him how much he meant to me and how he basically saved my life,” he said from St. Anthony’s Hospital, where he remains while receiving treatment.

Barbara O’Neill said in the second conversation she had with him the day after the incident, “Mom, I’m going to be able to help so many people.”

John O’Neill explained that during his rehabilitation prior to the accident, he had contacted The Phoenix, a nonprofit organization based in Denver that organizes and organizes sober activities and events.