A man who spent months recovering from a horrible farming accident has thanked the ambulance crew who saved his life.
Arden Coy and his family dropped by the Beenleigh Ambulance Station with thank you cards and home-baked biscuits for a reunion with the paramedics who were on duty when he was injured.
Mr Coy suffered a severe injury to his lower abdomen while helping his dad Daniel drill post holes on the family property at Logan Village last year.
He spent time in an induced coma, underwent five surgeries and more than 200 stitches before having to relearn how to walk.
Now, he’s training to compete in the St Kilda Ironman in Melborne in November and credits his recovery to the work of both the first responders and the doctors at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
“I cannot believe how amazing everyone’s been, particularly the paramedics,” Mr Coy said.
“My eyes were closed the whole time, so I just want to put some faces … [to the voices] and say thank you to these people that saved my life.”
Mr Coy and his family said they were grateful for emergency medical dispatcher Ellen Kerr and first responders Eugene Shin, Zebedee Koster, Damian Gonzalez and Vicky Burnett, for their work in keeping him alive.
Mr Coy’s father applauded the professionalism, skill and kind hearts of the paramedics and the dispatcher.
“They’re just amazing people and we just feel lucky that we could come and say thank you to them,” Mr Coy (Sr) said.
Mr Coy’s mother Sammantha Coy said: “They did things that day that no human being should ever have to do to ensure that Arden continues to live a really vibrant and passionate life.
“We are just so grateful, and it means the world to us … to be able to thank them … and tell them how incredibly important their work is.”
Beenleigh Officer-in-Charge Chris Rendall Day said it was an inspiring and humbling reunion.
“It’s very lovely to see such a loving and united family who held it together to help their son through the recovery, and for them to take the time to come to the station and meet with the paramedics and express their gratitude,” Mr Rendall Day said.
“I’m very proud of our officers for their treatment and for their overall response.”
First responders Eugene Shin and Zebedee Koster said that they were happy Mr Coy was well and healthy.
Mr Shin said: “The Coy family are honestly a unit. They’re inspirational. When I have a family, I’d probably hope to have half the unification that they’ve come to have. They’ve all got great personalities, a lot of love for each other. It just makes me happy that they’re all pushing towards a happy future.”
Mr Koster said: “I would say that the resilience that they’ve shown, especially Arden, has brought some good closure for me personally”.
“Even just getting a letter from his mom saying that he’s doing great and he’s moving on with life, that was really good in terms of closure,” Mr Koster said.
Subscribe to stay up-to-date with news from across Logan. You’ll receive a link to our digital newspaper direct to your inbox each week. It’s free.
