HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-07-18, Page 153 seconds
In three seconds last October 8
Harvey Hodgins’ life was changed
forever. In another three seconds it
could have been ended.
Mr. Hodgins, a Stephen Town
ship farmer told the annual media
day of the Huron County Farm and
Home Safety Association it took
only that long for him to lose his leg
and nearly lose his life. Active all
his life, loving to dance, always on
the run, the 65-year-old Mr. Hod
gins now finds life different as he
adjusts to using an artificial limb.
It started when an auger on a
forage wagon jammed and he went
into the wagon to unclog it. He
freed up the auger and was
watching it slowly inch across the
wagon when he touched it with his
foot. The auger grabbed his foot
and in about three seconds had
wound his leg right up to the waist.
At that point something made his
Local farms
toured
Thursday
BY JOHN BANCROFT
FARM MANAGEMENT
SPECIALIST, HURON COUNTY
If cattle are your livelihood, then
this tour is for you. Come join the
Huron County Cattlemen’s Asso
ciation on their annual county farm
'tour on Thursday, July 19.
It all begins at 9:30 a.m. at
Howatt Bros, feedlot which is just
north of Snell’s Feed and Supply at
Westfield. Their operation features
a slatted floor barn and they utilize
feed by-products in their feeding
program.
Next, Tom Black’s Blonde
d’Aquitaine cow-calf operation will
be visited followed by a stop at
Doug Walker’s feedlot and seed
cleaning operation. Before lunch at
the St. Helens Women’s Institute
Hall, the car tour will be stopping
at Neil Rintoul’s cow-calf and
feedlot operation. A Mennonite
sawmill operated by Jake Stutzman
that does custom sawing will be an
unique stop after lunch. The tour
will end at Art Helm’s where he
has a 100 plus cow-calf herd. Art
uses big bales that are protected by
wrapping plastic around them and
he has a tub grinder to grind the
bales before feeding.
If you are looking for some
practical information, plan to join
the Huron County Cattlemen on
July 19.
Twilight tour
to be held
Thursday
A joint tour combining both
Huron and Bruce counties is being
sponsored by the Huron Soil and
Water Conservation District.
The tour will focus on conserva
tion tillage techniques, particularly
ridge-till and no-till.
The tour will include stops at
John McLarty’s no-till corn, Glen
Boyd’s no-till soybeans, Lawrence
Hogan’s ridge-till corn and Steve
Howard’d ridge-till white beans.
The tour date is July 19 at 7 p.m.
Starting point for the tour will be
the Hogans’ shop - Lot 1, Cone. 11
W.D., Ashfield Twp.
This tour will be the beginning of
a conservation club. At this meet
ing the group will be looking for
input on what you think the key
issues are that would help you
adopt a conservation system.
Anyone unable to attend but
interested in the club can call Phil
Clark at Auburn.
changed
son, who was operating the tractor
power take off that was powering
the auger, shut off the machine for
some reason. He said later he
hadn’t heard his father yell, just
heard a noise and shut the power
off. Another three seconds and the
auger would have worked its way
up his body, and probably killed
him, Mr. Hodgins says.
Mr. Hodgins threaded himself
out of the auger. “You have no idea
how mad 1 was,” he says, remem
bering the frustration of knowing
how such a short time was going to
change his life. He wasn’t afraid of
dying but knew his leg was in bad
shape.
He was taken to hospital in
London and the leg was amputated.
He spent 43 days in hospital, being
taken to the operating room nine
different times.
The first day or two he could
have cried all day, he said and
probably should have but he re
alized he had to change his attitude
and not feel sorry for himself. He
said he didn’t want his wife and
family to suffer because of his
misfortune so he wanted to make
the best of the situation.
Meanwhile friends and neigh
bours came to the family’s aid. Ten
farmers arrived and plowed 185
acres in a day. A benefit dance was
held with 750 people contributing
$5,000 to help out. He hadn’t really
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1990. PAGE 15.
farmer’s life forever
wanted the help but was over
whelmed by the thoughtfulness.
“When the neighbours came in I
could have cried.”
After his stay in hospital he was
home for a time then went back in
to be fitted for a “shell”, a
temporary artificial leg. He spent
three weeks getting fitted and
learning to use the leg. He has to
keep going back for refits because
the stump of his amputated leg
keeps shrinking and will for some
months yet.
* ‘There isn’t one thing I do that’s
easy anymore,” he says. He used
to go up a ladder lickety split but
now has to go one step at a time.
He has had to find ways of getting
onto each tractor because each kind
of machine causes different pro
blems. He still gets phantom pains
from the foot that isn’t there.
“I wouldn’t have taken a million
dollars to have this happen,” he
says. Instead he’s not only missing
a foot but it’s cost thousands of
dollars in medical bills. Still, he
says, in those weeks in hospital he
met so many people with more
problems than he has and he can
also think of how fortunate it was
his son turned off the machine
when he did. “It scares the life out
of me to think what would have
happened if Glen hadn’t shut off
the tractor,” he says. He also
thinks of the mental anguish and
one that changed his life. “It was
so simple I can hardly accept it as
an accident,” he says shaking his
head.
guilt his son would have felt if he
had been killed in the accident.
And he still wonders at how
quickly a routine day turned into
Graphic evidence
Harvey Hodgins of Crediton removes his artificial leg to show
the damage done when he was caught in a forage wagon auger
last October. He spent 43 days in hospital after his leg was
amputated.
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