Woman crushed by 60,000 lb front-end-loader
Jennifer Blake made headlines nearly four months ago when a 60,000-pound front-end loader ran over her while she worked as a flagger at a construction site. Blake was initially treated in Boise then flown to the University of Utah's Intermountain Burn Center in Salt Lake City. She spent her first month in the hospital heavily sedated and endured another 10 weeks of rehabilitation. "I've had so many surgeries. I don't know how many surgeries I've had," Blake says. Blake is returning home to Boise in the midst of her recovery from the accident. Mary Earl works at the burn center and has been a nurse for 26 years. She says Blake's injuries were some of the worst she's seen. The front-end loader ran over Blake while she was directing traffic at a Boise construction site. Fifteen to 20 percent of her skin was "degloved," or torn from the muscle, the tires driving dirt deep into her wounds, raising the risk of serious infection. The machine crushed her pelvis, broke several ribs and her ankle, collapsed one lung and ruptured her spleen. "I think she's a miracle," Earl says. "When she first came in, I didn't know if she was going to make it."
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