Troy Hathaway only wanted to trim some branches in the yard of his home in Glassboro, New Jersey.
He is 45 years old and never imagined that a poorly positioned ladder would cause him to fall nearly 2.4 meters. Upon landing, a branch became lodged in his cheek, pierced his nose, passed alongside his eye, and ended up touching his brain. At first, he thought he had broken his jaw. He did not know that he had a piece of tree embedded in his skull.
At Jefferson Health hospital, a medical team decided not to open the skull. They opted to remove the branch through the nose, using the same technique used to remove brain tumors. Four hours after surgery, Hathaway was still breathing well, seeing normally, and had no neurological damage. Today, he is recovering at home with antibiotics, alongside his wife and daughter, as if his brain had never come so close to being lost.