Matt Royal has been doing electrical work since he was 18 years old and has been a master electrician at Royal Electric and Design, Inc. since 2014. While he now has four employees as part of his electrical team, it took a team of an entirely different nature to save Royal and his right hand from a traumatic accident that occurred on April 23.
The Accident
In addition to Royal Electric, Royal also has an excavating business. Recently, he had been building a dump truck for the business and was working on the truck to rebuild the PTO hydraulic pump.
“I had been working underneath it all morning,” he said. “It was one of those days I had just cleared my schedule and wanted to get it done.”
Royal said he hadn’t had his cell phone on him all day, but, after taking a break and a customer’s call, he stuck the phone in his back pocket.
“Not 30 seconds later, the bed fell,” Royal said. “Before I could get out of the way, the bed embedded into the blocking and flattened my hand like a piece of paper. I’m really not sure how it fell — the bucket loader was held up with a chain.”
When the bucket loader fell, Royal was standing in a crouched position and would remain that way for approximately 45 more minutes until help arrived. It was at that point that Royal would find himself grateful for connections he had made and customers who were left satisfied.
The Calls for Help
As Royal stood screaming in pain, he realized he could not free himself from the truck without losing his hand. After what he describes as a very long conversation with God, Royal was finally able to pull his phone out of his back pocket with his left hand. However, there were only certain contacts he could access with one hand.
After about 25 minutes, he was able to dial 911 and his neighbor, a retired teacher who initially thought he was joking. Royal also took a call from a customer that was able to contact his wife, Amanda and inform her of the situation. Amanda had two of the couple’s three children with her, and said their 7-year-old daughter Ana bowed her head and prayed for her daddy the entire way to the house.
According to Matt, because the Royals live .9 miles outside of Daviess County, it was McLean County Central District Fire Rescue (CDFD) that responded.
“McLean County does not have any paid firefighters,” said CDFD Chief Jimmy VanCleve of the volunteer fire department. “We are based in Calhoun, so daytime response is very different anymore because everybody’s working.”
However, from the time the call came in until the time VanCleve arrived on scene, he estimates to be about 15 minutes.
Unfortunately, Matt had recently replaced his mailbox after it had been hit twice with a vehicle, so there was no numerical address posted when CDFD drove by the first time. Van Cleve used this opportunity to stress the importance of ensuring that street addresses are clearly labeled on homes and mailboxes in the event of an emergency.
Help Arrives
Over the 45-minute span that Matt was trapped under the vehicle, he would encounter a host of people that would be key players in his survival. His neighbor Margaret Underwood, finally took him seriously and, when she was unable to use the tractor to lift the dump truck bed, brought Matt a drink of sweet tea and sat with him until help arrived.
When help did arrive, it all showed up at once.
“My wife pulled in, the ambulance pulled in, the Sheriff and a state trooper pulled in,” Matt said. “A whole fleet of people came in.”
Marietta Worth, the EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) that arrived on scene was a former customer and familiar face that immediately brought Matt relief. He said there was no other time in his life that he was that grateful to see a happy customer.
While Matt was thankful for everyone that showed up to assist him, it was VanCleve that was first on scene and had just the tool to do the trick.
“The way we’re trained, we walk all the way around the scene,” VanCleve said, adding that he was surveying the area for hidden dangers to both himself and Matt. “In my mind, when I saw it, I thought, ‘I’ve got the tool to take care of this.’ He [Matt] told me 110 reasons why it wouldn’t work and I said, ‘You just sit still.’”
VanCleve said the $11,000 tool commonly referred to as “The Jaws of Life,” was able to lift the dump truck bed by 2-3 inches allowing Matt to slide his hand out.
“They’re definitely heroes,” Matt said of the firefighters and EMS workers on scene. “Without them, it would have been a whole lot different.”
After being freed, Matt was transported to Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, where he was evaluated for surgery to try to save his hand.
Humbled and Grateful
Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Benjamin Kittinger was the surgeon on call that evening.
“Essentially everything that’s important in his hand got crushed — the nerves were crushed, but thankfully not the blood vessels,” Kittinger said. “His hand injury needed to be operated on quickly. Jim Tidwell is one of those mentors that really taught me how to take care of bad injuries like that, but luckily it’s not a huge part of our practice here.”
A former nurse herself, Amanda made the decision to have Dr. Kittinger repair Matt’s hand rather than sending him to a specialist in Louisville. She found herself even more thankful when what initially appeared to require five or six surgeries, resulted in two.
“I really can’t take credit for much of it — it was his and his family’s response to this situation,” Kittinger said. “It was a pretty bad situation and, so far, other than having some numbness, it’s hopefully a step in the right direction for him. He’s happy to still have a hand — he has that glass half full personality. It’s nice to have patients with similar values and a similar outlook to yours.”
Amanda said the most touching part of the whole situation for her was when Matt finally emerged from recovery. She received a call in the waiting area and was told he was doing well, but Amanda could hear Matt “wailing” on the other end.
“His hand was so bad, we didn’t know if he’d have a hand,” Amanda said. “It was just beautiful when he woke up and found out he still had a hand. He was wailing and screaming, ‘Praise God — I have a hand — I have five fingers.’ Everyone in that hospital knew he had a hand.”
Matt said he has learned a lot over the past month, about patience, sitting still and enjoying the little things, like his wife and three children. He has also watched as his employees have stepped up and taken care of things in his absence. Overall, he said he finds himself humbled and grateful.
“It was definitely a life-changing event — it’s definitely a miracle,” Matt said. “I believe God has a plan for everything — it’s definitely humbled me. As a small business owner, I use my hands every day. Nobody expected me to keep my hand — it’s a beautiful thing.”
