Featured Image Credit: YouTube / Sabia and Loren
Topics: US News, Health, Social Media
Joe Harker
Loren Schauers, a man who suffered serious injuries after being cut in half by a forklift, showed what he was able to do as part of his morning routine.
In 2019, the forklift Loren was driving veered off a bridge in the US and sent him plummeting 50ft to the ground, leaving him crushed beneath the vehicle.
He'd been driving the forklift over the bridge when cars started illegally passing him through traffic lights, forcing Loren to veer away.
Tragically this sent his vehicle too close to the bridge edge and felt the ground go from under him.
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He tried to jump free from the falling forklift but the vehicle's seatbelt meant he simply swung from it instead and was crushed as a result.
He gave permission for hemicorporectomy surgery, meaning everything below the waist was amputated along with his right arm in an attempt to save his life.
It was a close-run thing, with his wife Sabia told to say her goodbyes to him multiple times but Loren was able to recover and return home.
Since then, the couple have shared updates and videos on social media letting people know how Loren lives, including one which shares his morning routine.
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In 2021, the couple published a video titled 'Things Loren Can Do On His Own After The Accident!' in which he showed how he gets out of bed.
The first part of the process was Loren getting into his 'bucket', a sort of body harness which he had to manoeuvre himself into.
With only one limb this was a lengthy process as it also took time for Loren to fix himself into the bucket and fasten on a chest plate before securing straps over his shoulders.
He then got into his wheelchair, though not without having to cajole his pet cat out of his seat as if there's anything cats know how to do it's plonk themselves where the human needs to be.
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Loren then headed into the bathroom to brush his teeth and freshen up for the day, while he was also able to move around the house and check out the contents of his fridge, though that door slammed shut the moment his cat took an interest in the contents.
Demonstrating that the bucket took as long a time to get out of as get in, it laid out how much time and effort Loren had to put into his mornings.
Another video showed the flipside, with him demonstrating the help he needed in taking a shower in the morning.
Once again, the cat was on hand to get in the way as our feline friends are liable to do.
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Throughout it all Loren has praised his wife for her continued support during his recovery, though recently he launched an appeal to ask if anyone would be interested in making friends with him and the internet responded well.