Teen injured in sledding accident

LIBBY — A Libby boy is lucky to be alive after his neck was pierced by a 2-inch-thick stick while sledding near Libby Creek Thursday evening.

Dave Patterson, 13, was being pulled on a sled behind a pickup truck when his sled went up a snow berm on the side of the road and a buried branch went through his neck and came out through the triceps muscle in his arm.

Patterson’s mother, Bobbie Patterson, said that after the accident, her son stood up and said, “I don’t think I’m OK.”

Mark Thom was with Dave Patterson at the time of the accident and said they had been up and down the road several times pulling the sleds without incident.

“It was just one of those freak accidents,” Thom said.

Libby Volunteer Ambulance stabilized Patterson, cutting the stick away from the wound but leaving it in place and applying pressure to minimize bleeding. The ALERT medical helicopter was dispatched from Kalispell.

Due to weather, the helicopter was unable to fly to the Libby area, so the Libby ambulance drove to a landing zone near Happy’s Inn on U.S. 2, where Patterson was transferred to the helicopter.

A surgeon and vascular surgeon were waiting at Kalispell Regional Medical Center for Patterson’s arrival and managed to remove the stick. Despite the location of the wound, no arteries, vital organs or even nerves were damaged in the accident.

“The surgeon said she couldn’t have surgically placed it there without causing damage,” Bobbie Patterson said. “He’s going to have a heck of a scar, but there aren’t going to be any long-lasting effects.”

According to Thom, “They said it was just a miracle that it didn’t hit any arteries or nerves or anything like that. I’m just glad he’s still with us.”

Bobbie Patterson said she was extremely grateful for the first responders who took care of her son.

“Everybody was unbelievable,” she said. “The police, the ambulance, the helicopter folks and the doctors and nurses were amazing.”

The youngster is expected to make a full recovery.