MAN WITH BROKEN NECK.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 186, 24 July 1923, Page 5

MAN WITH BROKEN NECK.

RECOVERING IN SYDNEY. A REMARKABLE CASE. Sydney, July 13. Just as th© Marama arrived in Sydney from Auckland 24 weeks .ago some of the unloading gear crashed down on 1 th© head of Adolf Anderson, one of the crew, breaking his neck. Anderson has been in Sydney Hospital ever since but he is almost better now. Doctors who examined him at the 1 time held out little hope of recovery. But one day Anderson dropped his heau on the pillow, and the impact sent his neck vertebrae back into place. His recovery is described as little short of a miracle.

Anderson is by birth a Norwegian. He tried to enlist in Sydney, but was turned down for defective eyesight. “Then,” said Anderson, “I packed up and went to Canada, where the re gulations were uot so strict; and eventually got across to France and saw three and a half years of fighting. Yes —I wag wounded—it was only to be expected—wounded twice. The first time was at Bourlon Wood. I got it with the bayonet. I had to be quick and dodged aside to miss it. I did miss it with my body, but he got me in thearm. Afterwards I was wounded by shrapnel, and was out of the line for good, but I got over it.

“After the war I followed the sea to and fro all over th© world. and at Auckland eventually shipped aboard the Marama for Sydney.” Anderson, describing the recent accident. said that on being struck by th© gear, he wag knocked unconscious and when he wag carried to Sydney Hospital it was found that h© had a broken neck or a dislocated neck, which, he says, is practically the same thing. The doctors examined him and held out little hope. On the third day Anderson had been lifted from his bed, and a nurse was busily engaged arranging the sheets and pillows. On being put back Anderson let his liead fall back on the pillow' But it was a few inches out of place. The angle of impact was per-. feet. In two seconds Anderson’s neck vertebrae went back into place. Thereafter it resolved itself into a question of medical attention and patient nursing.