In an amazing act
of quick thinking Rob Carson, an Australian, doctor saved 12-year old
Nicholas Rossi using a common house hold drill.
Last Friday Nicholas
fell while riding his bike without
a helmet outside a friends house in the town of Maryborough Australia.
Maryborough is 170km northwest of Melbourne. He was knocked momentarily
unconscious after his head hit the pavement. His father said "He was a
bit delirious at first, but then he stood up and said he was fine."
Although once home he kept complaining of headaches.
The headaches would not stop so Karen Rossi, Nicholas's mother, who is
a trained nurse, took the boy to the district hospital where Dr Carson
was the doctor on duty. Kept there for observation Nicholas kept
drifting in and out consciousness along with having spasms. The doctor
believed this to be signs of a fractured skull and internal bleeding.
This was the same deadly condition that took the life of actress
Natasha Richardson.
Dr. Carson had to act immediately or the boy was going to die.
Nicholas father recalls Dr. Carson saying "I am going to have to drill
into Nicholas to relieve the pressure on the brain - we've got one shot
at this and one shot only." Unfortunately the hospital was not equipped
with necessary neurological drills to preform the procedure. Added to
that Dr. Carson had never done that type of operation before.
Not to be stopped the good doctor acquired a De Walt drill from a
hospital maintenance room. Again not having done this before he got
leading Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace, on the phone, to walk him
through the procedure. Dr Wallace told him where and how deep to drill.
Dr. Carson drilled until the blood clot came out and blood flowed
from the hole. The size of the hole was increased, with forceps, to a
diameter of about 1 cm, after which a drain tube was inserted to keep
blood flowing out of the boys head. This relieved the pressure on the
boys brain. After observing that Nicholas's symptoms were subsiding,
Dr. Carson new the procedure had worked.
Dr. Carson, an obvious hero, is humble about the situation. He said
"If you are in that situation you just do those things." and "It is not
a personal achievement, it is just a part of the job and I had a very
good team of people helping me."
Nicholas has been released from the hospital and yesterday celebrated
his 13th birth day. His father said "He has started his teenage years
with a bang," and "...life can change in a minute - tell your kids to
always wear a helmet."