Zimbabwean man survives pickaxe skull bash in the UK

A ZIMBABWEAN based in the UK who missed his brain by millimetres when he hit himself in the head with a pickaxe has told how he sat at the bus stop for 15 minutes because he didn't want paramedics to waste their time.

Sheldon Mpofu, 37, was gardening when the pickaxe he was using to pull up turf caught on his washing line and pinged back into his forehead.

Incredibly the sharp blade missed his brain and entered a sinus - an empty space in the skull. Medics said it was a miracle that he had not been killed.

Carer Sheldon, a devout Christian, said: "The pickaxe could have got me in my eye socket, or it could have hit my head millimetres either side and damaged my brain."

Sheldon explained: "I was in the garden laying some new turf in the early afternoon. I was using the pickaxe to dig turf up.

"I lifted it up then down, and as I did it just caught on the washing line, and pinged back up and hit me in the head.

"It didn't hurt that much immediately, and I just remember seeing stars and stumbling back a bit. I didn't even fall over.

"I threw the pickaxe down on the ground and blood just started pouring from the wound. There was loads of it. It wouldn't stop."

Leah Chinyanga, 38, who Sheldon cares for, told how she was sitting outside when she heard a knocking sound.

She said: "I thought a stone had flown up and hit him in the head. But suddenly Sheldon was clutching at his head and I could see blood was all over his face."

Sheldon continued: "Leah was on the phone to someone and they told her to call 111 for advice.

"She said she thought we should call an ambulance but I didn't want her to, I didn't want to waste their time because I thought, 'I'm still standing so it can't be that bad'.

"I talked them through what had happened. They said they didn't think I needed an ambulance but said to go to hospital within an hour.

"So I bandaged the wound up to stop it from bleeding more and went and sat on the pavement by the bus stop.

"Up until that point I don't think my head was hurting that much, maybe it was the shock numbing the pain.

"But when I was waiting for the bus I got a really bad headache.

"The bus didn't arrive for 15 minutes so by the time I got to the hospital it had probably been about an hour and a half since the accident."

Nurses at St James's Hospital in Leeds assessed him and because he told them he hadn't fainted, he wasn't seen immediately.

He was then transferred to Leeds General Infirmary for an X-ray and CT scan.

Sheldon had five stitches under local anaesthetic and was kept in hospital overnight and given antibiotics and a tetanus injection.

The lucky gardener, from Morley, West Yorks, continued: "That's where a doctor came over to me and said: 'Sheldon, do you realise how lucky you are?'

"She said she couldn't believe how it had happened.

"The doctor showed me on a screen how the pickaxe had gone through the sinus.

"They were able to show me how far it had gone in and how far it was from my brain - and it was only millimetres.

"The doctor said to me you can call it a miracle because I don't know how else to explain it."

"They just couldn't believe it.

"They said I was a celebrity in the hospital because everyone was passing round the pictures of my CT scan. It was really interesting to all of them."

Sheldon added: "As a Christian I believe that I was saved for a reason.

"I was supposed to die really. The impact was huge and the pickaxe could have hit anywhere, but it hit a spot where I would be saved.

"I'm very, very lucky to be alive and it's changed my perspective on life. My faith has been strengthened.

"So many people in life don't believe in miracles but I am proof of one.

Sheldon insists he will continue using the pickaxe, adding: "If you are hit by a car do you stop crossing a road?"

Doctors have said he won't have any problems in the future but have given him a follow-up appointment to assess how his stitches are healing.