WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Boy Saved with Household Drill
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May 20, 2009
Nicholas Rossi is alive to celebrate his 13th birthday because of a power drill.
"The doctor said it was imminent death," says Michael Rossi, Nicholas' dad.
Nicholas Rossi cracked his skull falling from his bike. He was losing consciousness as his parents raced to their tiny local hospital in Australia.
Dr. Rob Carson knew he had only minutes to relieve the bleeding on Nicholas' brain. The hospital didn't have tools for brain surgery, so he called for a power drill from the maintenance department.
"The procedure didn't bother me, what worried me was all the time during this was this little 12-year-old was going to die," Carson says.
With a top neurosurgeon on the phone, it took Carson just over a minute to insert the drill bit one centimeter into the boy's skull and relieve the pressure on his brain.
"It's a neurosurgical emergency because if the blood is not evacuated or removed it will just continue to accumulate, push on the brain and ultimately result in death," explains Dr. Carolyn Brockington of Roosevelt Hospital.
With head trauma, initially the injury may not seem serious. But doctors say if there is a loss of consciousness at impact or the person becomes lethargic-- get help immediately.
A similar injury took the life of actress Natasha Richardson.
"The important thing is to get treatment early before you lapse into a coma, before there is a change in mental status," Brockington says.
Nicholas Rossi's parents never questioned Dr. Carson's decision to use the drill.
Nicholas' mom Karen is a nurse. She says, "To be quite honest that didn't blow me away terribly much because I knew that he would need a craniotomy to get the clot out of his skull."
Nicholas is expected to make a full recovery.
