Man Cut In Half By Forklift Told Doctor To Keep Him Alive Even If He Was Just A Head
Loren Schauers was just 19 when he got into a horrific forklift accident.
However, the brave man was determined to stay alive for his wife and family.
Schauers is married to Sabia Reiche but the pair had only been together for 18 months when the accident happened.
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On that fateful day in September 2019, Loren was working on a construction site for a bridge rehabilitation job.
As he was driving the forklift over the bridge, cars started to illegally pass him, with one car coming so close that Loren veered too near to the edge of the bridge.
As the ground started the crumble under him, the forklift fell. Loren tried to jump but his seatbelt trapped his legs and he plummeted 50ft.
The forklift rolled down the hill after him and pinned him to the ground.
Loren, from Great Falls in Montana, said: "I was conscious the whole time. My eyes were wide open and I saw the forklift come down and land on my hips and my right forearm. I remember looking to my right with the forklift on top of my body and there was big old piece of muscle from my arm just lying on the ground next to me. It had just blown apart instantly from the impact."
Loren was taken to a hospital in Bozeman, Montana, where he would have life-saving surgery.
With his wife, Reiche opened up to the Daily Star about the ordeal and how doctors told the family the only way to save their loved one was through a hemicorporectomy, amputation from the waist down.
“We were all like super shocked and none of us knew how to react and none of us knew how Loren would react because he’s an 18-year-old guy living life to the full.
"And so there were fears in our heads that he wouldn’t want this surgery or would rather die than lose half of his body.
“But his sister really fought hard to let him make that decision."
Loren's mother had power of attorney, while her son was on a breathing tube due to complications from the accident.
However, fighting hard, his sister asked for him to be taken off of the tube so that he could make the decision for himself.
"After a day or two after consultations and talking, they took him off it and he woke up and he kind of had an idea what was going on."
Doctors explained the dire situation, saying: "You'll lose the lower half of your body or you may die in surgery."
Reiche recalls how Loren didn't hesitate: "From that moment I knew he wasn’t going anywhere because he looked them dead in the eye and told them he didn’t care if he was just a head on a plate, they’re going to do the surgery and they’re going to keep him alive.
"That really brought a lot of hope for us, that he was a fighter, but we already knew that because he was still alive."
Loren adding: "It wasn't a hard choice to have half of my body amputated – it was basically a choice of living or dying."
Loren is currently doing well and he and Reiche share updates of their life together on YouTube.
Shola Lee