By Dariush Shafa
The Messenger-Inquirer
OWENSBORO, Ky. — David Sublett doesn’t remember much of the aftermath of his Aug. 3 automobile crash.
There are a few vague flashes in there. He remembers bits and pieces of rescue workers using the Jaws of Life to cut him free of his truck. He doesn’t recall being covered in turnips and sand and other debris from the back of his truck.
Firefighters who worked on getting Sublett free all knew one thing, however: It was very, very bad. Sublett had a concussion and a small divot-size chunk out of his forehead missing and a horrific compound fracture of both his fibula and tibia just above his ankle. Both bones were sheared and had torn through his leg, leaving a hole almost big enough for a baseball to fall through.
“I’m sure I didn’t (look good),” Sublett said. “I was busted up.”
News about Sublett traveled fast among local emergency responders. Firefighters from various departments who work with Sublett, who is a firefighter with the Owensboro Fire Department, were sick with worry, and the bad news got worse in the absence of knowing what was happening.
“Within 15 minutes, my leg had been amputated, both legs had been amputated, I had been lifeflighted and I had passed on,” Sublett said, talking about the rumors that flew.
In truth, Sublett was in the Emergency Department at Owensboro Medical Health System and had a few things on his mind, fighting through the haze of pain and medication.
“He said, ‘Mom, I’ve got some library books (left in my truck) to turn in,’ ” said Mary Sublett, David’s mother. “He looked like somebody had buried him in sand at the hospital.”
Firefighters are expected to live dangerous lives, Sublett said, but getting hurt in a automobile accident while off-duty never really floated to the top of the bad-scenario idea pile for Sublett and his family.
“She (my wife, Cindy) has always expected the firefighters and chaplain to pull up to the door,” Sublett said.
After being taken to Owensboro Medical Health System’s Emergency Department, Sublett was taken into surgery so doctors could begin to repair the damage to his leg. During the surgery, however, things got worse. The surgeon operating on Sublett noticed something peculiar about Sublett’s knee. Further investigation showed Sublett’s kneecap had been broken into two almost-perfect halves, requiring even more surgery.
Following the surgery and three days spent in intensive care, Sublett was put into a normal hospital bed, and it wasn’t long after that when he went home. Unfortunately, more problems cropped up there when Sublett told his doctors he was still having severe pain. Further tests showed that Sublett had an additional three broken ribs and a cracked collarbone.
Being at home, Sublett had plenty of time to think about chores not being done. Who was going to take care of his farm animals? Who was going to mow the grass and pick up the tree limbs he’d been tackling afternoon after endless afternoon since the ice storm?
“I can’t say that I was honestly worried because it was one of those things of, ‘I’ll get to it when I get to it,’” Sublett said.
He didn’t have to. Fellow firefighters showed up en masse to help out. Others helped out financially.
“They (firefighters) did in a day what would have taken me two more weeks of afternoons to do,” Sublett said.
Owensboro firefighter Chuck Hagan, a good friend of Sublett’s, said the willingness of everyone to pitch in goes beyond the usual friendship.
“That’s the nature of it. It’s a kind of a family thing,” Hagan said. “He’ll do anything for anybody and everyone is just trying to help him out now that he needs it.”
Sublett said it’s one more indicator to him that he found the perfect job.
“Look at the result of me being friends with these guys. They’re all taking care of me,” Sublett said. “There’s no way I can ever thank everybody enough.”
Copyright 2009 Messenger-Inquirer