A “crazy freak accident” happening in a mine in early January hospitalized Tim Page with several serious injuries.
According to his sister Alishia Wilders, Page was loading a mine car on January 5th and ran out of room in the back, so he decided to place a box weighing about 70 pounds in the front of the car.
Wilders said Page told her that he was over two miles into the mine, and he felt the ground shift, causing the roof of the mine to drop from 70 inches to 40 inches. That caused the box on the front of the car to clip bolt in the ceiling and the box to shoot back toward Page and hit him in the chest.
Page broke both arms, suffered a collapsed lung, as well as several other internal injuries according to his family.
He was originally taken to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown, but on January 15th he was transferred to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh Wilders said.
Family members said they know a worse fate was narrowly avoided.
“We're very, very thankful. The doctors are even saying that he's a miracle because most people with some of his injuries don't survive it,” Wilders said. “They're estimating it's going to be at least a year or more of recovery, and even then, he won't be able to go back to full duty.”
Wilders said her younger brother is doing better now, even though he remains in the Pittsburgh hospital for now.
“The one major blessing is that through all of this he's never had any type of head injury, he's been awake for everything, and his collapsed lung is now better, and he's breathing on his own, and he's able to walk,” Wilders said. “They're just trying to get this fluid out of his system so that he can go home.”
Wilders called the people of First Apostolic Church of Somerset a “second family” to Page. She said they have been collecting monetary donations trying to help the Page family.
You can send a donation to the church at 141 Forward Boulevard in Somerset, Pennsylvania 15501.
There is also a GoFundMe that Wilders started that has reached over double the amount of the original goal in donations.
A representative with the U.S. Department of Labor said the Mine Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident that injured Page.
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