ELLSINORE — A workplace accident at a Shannon County sawmill Wednesday has left an Ellsinore man with extensive injuries that have required multiple surgeries.
The accident involving Cody Robinett happened early Wednesday morning at Patterson Lumber in Birch Tree, where he has worked for several years, said the 27-year-old’s mother, Holly Robinett.
A contact number for the company was not immediately available Thursday.
“(He) was cleaning out the front of the sawmill carriage,” which carries the logs back and forth on the blade to slice them, Holly Robinett explained. “The carriage came down. I don’t know if it hit him or ran over him.”
Holly Robinett said she was told her son was “knocked out,” but “came to. All the employees were trying to make him lay on the ground because he was trying to stand up.
“He was telling them he’s got two babies, he had to get to work.”
Holly Robinett said her son was taken by ambulance to the ballfield in Birch Tree, where he was put on a medical helicopter and flown to Mercy Hospital in Springfield.
“They took him immediately into emergency surgery before we even got there,” she said. “ … I didn’t know what to expect when we got to the hospital; the worse part was not knowing.”
Cody Robinett, she said, had three different specialists working on him due to his different injuries.
“The first specialist told us he had broken some ribs that punctured his muscle wall into his lung,” causing his lung to deflate, Holly Robinett explained. “There was so much debris (sawdust) in there, he’ll probably have to have reconstructive surgery later.”
Holly Robinett said her son was put on a ventilator and a chest tube was put in to reinflate his lung and to keep the fluid drained out of his chest.
In addition to the puncture wound(s), Holly Robinett said, her son suffered a “big gash” across his abdomen. That cut, she said, didn’t puncture anything and was stapled closed.
Due to his injuries, she said, he lost a lot of blood and had to have four pints of blood during his six hours of surgery on Wednesday.
“He broke his leg in two places,” she said. “They put a 16-inch titanium rod in his femur (Wednesday); that’s what one of the surgeries was.”
Cody Robinett also broke his pelvis in two to three different spots and went into surgery Thursday morning to “screw it back together.”
Holly Robinett said both “knobs” on two of her son’s vertebrae were broken off, and his upper arm also was broken.
“They put a huge metal plate in there (his arm) and some pins,” said Holly Robinett, who indicated “everything was on his left side.”
In addition, Holly Robinett said, her son lost the tip of one of his middle fingers, and the doctor “removed down to the first knuckle.”
Also broken were a thumb and his shoulder blade, she said.
“He had some lacerations on his face and the back of his head,” which were stitched up and stapled, said Holly Robinett.
As Cody Robinett was in surgery Thursday morning, his mother said, he was stable.
“Time will tell” how he will progress and whether he gets any infections from the debris/saw dust that was in his puncture wounds, she said.
Doctors, she said, expect Cody Robinett to be hospitalized two to three weeks “if everything goes smooth,” then he’ll have “months and months of recovery and physical therapy to get back to normal.”
Holly Robinett said “thoughts and prayers” would be “very appreciated at this time,” as would any donations since her son doesn’t have insurance.
Donations in Cody Robinett’s name may be dropped off any Sterling Bank branch or by contacting his aunt, Melanie Robinett, at mrobinett72@gmail.com or 573-300-7915