MARVEL OF SURGERY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 210, 18 August 1933, Page 13

MARVEL OF SURGERY

FRACTURED SPINE HEALED MAN’S CHARMED LIFE. INJURIES AT AND AFTER WAR. SYDNEY, Aug. 3. Abundant evidence that there arc some persons in the world who Jive under the wing of a guardian angel is provided in the caso of Charles) Patrick Thorne, an ex-soldier, who is at present an outdoor patient attending the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. About 10 months ago Mr. Thorne was a timber-getter at Bellawongarah Mountain, near Berry, nearly 100 miles from Sydney. One day he was standing on a springboard felling a large tree when a chip got under his foot; he fell 15 feet to the ground and w.as unconscious for some time. Recovering his senses, he found himself in both arms, which were folded together in front of him. Mr. Thorne crawled three-quarters of a mile through the bush on his knees and elbows to the road and lay there until he was found by an inspector of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Mayman, who took him to a hospital. He was kept for ‘five months under observation—all the time suffering pain —and finally, with a plaster collar around his neck, came to Sydney for further treatment. One of the surgeons attending the Royal North Shore Hospital discovered that Mr. Thorne had a fractured spine. He was placed in bed in that hospital; a tension cord was put round his neck, with a rope running over a pulley to a heavy weight, and he was practically hung by the neck for several weeks. CHOICE OF THREE COURSES. This drastic treatment relieved his pain temporarily, but did not cure him. The surgeon put the question straight to him. He hud three courses before him: To lie in bed for the rest of his life with the tension cord around his neck; to walk about, but with the risk that his spine might, suddenly slip forward as he walked, probably causing instant death; or to submit to an operation, in which the chances were about equal of a cure or of death on the operating table. Mr. Thorne did not hesitate in accepting the last course. 1916 operation took four and a-half hours to perform. Several sections of his spinal column were chipped away until the spinal cord was exposed. It was found that a small section of the inner bone of a vertebra had broken off and become wedged in the cavity, pressing on the spinal cord. The task of removing this piece of bone was a most difficult and dangerous proceeding. Almost every time it was touched with forceps, the muscles of the arms and upper portion of the body twitched convulsively. With extreme care, it was eased, while several medical assistants held the patient to prevent movement from the twitching muscles. SUCCESS OF OPERATION. Eventually the dexterity of the surgeon was rewarded. The piece of bone was removed. One of Mr. Thorne’s shin bones was then laid bare, and five small slabs of bone were sawn from it and grafted on to his spine, where the bone had been chipped away. The patient spent about 18 weeks in the ward, and proved to be the possessor of a cheerful and jovial spirit, with abundant philosophy. Now his paralysis is gone and he is awaiting the removal of a plaster jacket which is protecting his back during the final healing. Several times Mr. Thorne’s guardian angel has preserved his life. At Passchendaele on October 4, 1917, a wound left him with a deformed right hand. Returning from the war, he was sent into the Moore Park Depot suffering from pneumonic influenza. Emerging from there he went to work on a building and fell 32 feet from a scaffold, and did not hurt himself. Later he survived peritonitis, and after being back at work for a few weeks he was bitten by a black snake.