'100 to 1 Odds': Man Survives 15-Story Fall

[Hum]

 Against all medical odds, a 20-year-old man survived a fall from a 15-story apartment building in New Zealand, after attempting to get into his locked apartment from a balcony above.

An American emergency room doctor said the chances of living through a fall from that height are about 1 in 100.

The man, identified by the New Zealand Herald as Tom Stilwell, a British man in Auckland on a "working holiday," returned home after a night out with friends and found he did not have a key to get into his locked apartment. Stilwell tried to jump down to his balcony from the balcony of the apartment above, but instead plummeted to the roof of a building below.

 Stilwell's story astounded his doctors in New Zealand as well as in the United States.

"It made me wonder what the roof looked like that he fell on," said Dr. Nicholas Kman, associate professor of emergency medicine at The Ohio State University Medical Center.

"It's pretty abnormal for someone to fall that far and survive," Kman said. "For every fall like that, the odds of living are very rare."

Doctors use a formula called "lethal doses" to determine the likelihood of death in a fall. At four stories, or about 48 feet above the ground, half will survive. But at seven stories or 84 feet, only 10 percent are expected to live -- that is, 90 percent will die, according to Kman.

According to local reports, Stilwell fell 13 stories. At first, he was in critical condition at Auckland City Hospital, but was later upgraded to satisfactory with neck and back fractures, a broken wrist and suspected internal injuries.

 Stilwell's upstairs neighbor, Geraldine Bautista, 28, told the Herald that he knocked on her door on the 15th floor of the Volt Apartment building at about 2 a.m., asking if he could jump off her balcony onto his to get into his own apartment.

According to the Herald, he went straight to the balcony and Bautista grabbed his hand, but he fell.

"It happened so fast," she told the newspaper. "It happened within seconds. I couldn't even scream for help. He was like a paper falling from here."

Friends said that Stilwell had "a fair bit to drink" before the incident, according to the Herald.

Doctors say that although there is no evidence that alcohol softens the blow to the body, they have heard that anecdotally about car accident victims.

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[Growled Member]

Only 8 more lives to go now.

[Hum]

I wonder if he'll live a normal, long life ...

 

Today's lesson kids:  call a locksmith.