Drunk Driver Had Penis And Testicle Amputated Following Horrific Crash

A drunk driver has opened up about the horrific crash which meant he had to have his penis and a testicle amputated.

Paul Berry, from Missouri, USA, had a few drinks with a buddy before driving to see his then-girlfriend who lived in Columbia, Illinois, at about 2am on 10 May 2014.

After crossing the Jefferson Barracks Bridge, he took the exit onto Route Three but lost control of the car.

"I either fell asleep or I slipped in the rain," he said.

"I started to go one way and I turned the wheel the other way trying to correct myself but I overcorrected which caused the vehicle to flip.

"It rolled a few times and I was ejected out the back window, and then I went flying and the car kept rolling and I hit the ground and the car happened to stop rolling right on top of me."

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A truck driver stopped and flagged down other motorists to help lift the car off Paul, who was transported to St Louis University Hospital in an air ambulance, with his heart temporarily stopping along the way.

He was incredibly lucky to survive, with one fracture in his neck just an inch away from paralysing him from the neck down. But after waking from a coma five weeks later and realising the extent of his injuries, Paul felt anything but lucky.

He broke his neck both his hips, pelvis, two ribs, his jaw, his nose and sustained a traumatic brain injury; during his coma, he had a titanium jaw fitted, along with 13 screws in his chin and plates in both sides of his face.

To add to this, the wheel had come off during the crash and the metal that was left crushed Paul's genitals. Surgeons tried to reconstruct the area with the remaining tissue but Paul went into leukocytosis, whereby a high number of white blood cells flood to the injured area.

This could be fatal, so for Paul's safety, medics were forced to give up their efforts and amputate his penis and one of his testicles, leaving just a stump.

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The 29-year-old said: "I don't know if I just didn't want to believe it, it was shocking.

"I thought that it would heal, but the doctor came in and asked me if I had any frozen semen in case I wanted to have kids because I wouldn't be able to have kids."

The dog groomer spent six weeks at Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital undergoing physical, speech and occupational therapy, and against the odds, he retained his ability to walk.

He was eventually able to make a full recovery, but it took him much longer to get to the point where he's at today, where he can talk about the crash and its impact without shame.

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He said: "They had to amputate my, well, manhood. It's like they chopped a tree down and there's a stump.

"Ironic, because I didn't feel like a 'man' until after the accident.

"I want to tell the world about the emotional toll this took and will always take on me.

"It has forever changed my life in a way that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy."

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Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey