Loren Schauers, from Montana, was the victim of a terrible freak accident.It saw him plummet off the side of a bridge whilst driving a forklift truck.
The then 19-year-old fell over 50 feet to the ground below, leaving the lower half of his body and one of his arms severely crushed.
Now Schauers has shared a horrifying update, which includes a photo of the moment the forklift fell on him.
Thankfully, Schauers was not killed in his accident.
His life was saved by a procedure known as hemicorporectomy, a surgery in which the lower half of the body is amputated.
The surgery is extremely uncommon, with only 71 reported cases. The surgery is also hugely high-risk, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Loren and his wife Sabia have set up a YouTube channel in the wake of the tragic accident which changed the couple’s lives forever.
In one Q&A session, broadcast to the channel’s 600,000+ subscribers, Schauers opens up about life post-accident.
One question was: “Do your friends still treat you the same way they used to before the accident? Are you happy, surprised, or disappointed by some of them?”
Schauers admitted he’d been ‘a little disappointed’ by some of them.
He continued: “A couple of friends came out of the woodworks and have been really supportive, [others] totally reverted and have been reclusive.
“But it’s whatever to me, you know, I got Sabia, that’s all I need.”
Sabia agreed, adding: “Going through this together has definitely strengthened a lot of the aspects of our relationship.”
Sabia also shared: “The biggest question that has been asked since our original video is how Loren goes to the bathroom.”
Schauer went on to answer: “A colostomy which is my colon pulled out of my body so I can poop. And I have bilateral nephrostomies, they’re tubes that go into my kidneys that drain my kidneys into bags so, therefore, that is how I poop, pee and fart.”
His wife added: “We get questions like, ‘Does he have any private parts?’. He’s amputated below the waist. If that doesn’t answer your questions, Google hemicorporectomy.”
A hemicorporectomy, also known as ‘trans-lumbar amputation’, is a radical procedure in which the lower extremities of the body are surgically removed, according to the National Library of Medicine.
This includes removing the bony pelvis, external private parts, rectum, and bladder. The procedure is typically done in two stages.
On top of offering this candid info, Schauers has also recently shared a horrifying image of his accident.
The Daily Star reported that Loren posted an Instagram photo of the moment the forklift accident almost killed him.
“If you look closely in the second photo, you can see me still pinned under the forklift,” he said on the social media platform.
