Credit: @loren.schauers/Instagram
Man Who Was Cut In Half By Forklift Answers The Question Everyone Is Always Asking
A man who lost half his body in a devastating forklift accident has revealed the one question people constantly ask him.
Loren Schauers, from Montana, was working as a laborer when his life took a dramatic turn in September 2019.
What started as a routine day on the job ended in a life-altering tragedy that would leave him facing an unimaginable choice.
Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him, Loren survived and has since become an inspiration to hundreds of thousands of people across the globe.
Now, he’s speaking openly about the question that seems to follow him wherever he goes.
The devastating forklift accident that changed Loren Schauers’ life
In a horrific workplace accident, Loren was operating a forklift when it went over the edge of a bridge. He plunged more than 50 feet to the ground below, where the vehicle crushed the lower half of his body and one of his arms.
Although he survived the incident, the extent of his injuries meant doctors had to perform an extremely rare surgery known as a hemicorporectomy.
Also referred to as a trans-lumbar amputation, a hemicorporectomy involves removing the lower half of the body, including the pelvis, pelvic organs, legs, and external g**italia, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Loren also underwent the amputation of his arm, which had been severely damaged in the accident.
Speaking to RTL 4, he recalled: “The doctors gave me a choice. The question was, do you want to live or die? Do you want to live with the situation now or die with the life you had?”
While his injuries permanently changed his life, Loren has remained determined not to let them define him.
Loren Schauers remembers every moment of the horrifying accident
One of the most astonishing aspects of Loren’s story is that he remained fully conscious throughout the entire accident.
While many people would likely want to erase such a traumatic experience from their memory, Loren vividly remembers every detail of what happened that day.
Looking back on the devastating incident, the now 24-year-old explained exactly what occurred in the moments before the forklift plunged from the bridge.
“As the edge of the bridge collapsed and the forklift started to tip up, I unbuckled my seatbelt and went to jump out.
“I now know that was the wrong idea but it was just fight or flight.”
Loren said his attempt to escape didn’t go as planned.
“The seatbelt ended up wrapping around my leg as I jumped out so I actually swung out instead and broke one of my ribs off the floorboard of the forklift.
“I tried staying on top of the forklift as much as I could as it rolled and then I was thrown from the forklift at the end of the hill once it finally landed.”
Despite the severity of the crash, Loren never lost consciousness.
Describing the terrifying final moments of the accident, he said: “I was conscious the whole time. My eyes were wide open and I saw the forklift come down and land on my hips and my right forearm.”
How Loren and Sabia built a future after tragedy
Loren and his wife, Sabia, have shared their journey with the world through their YouTube channel, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
The couple regularly posts videos documenting their lives and discussing their hopes and plans for the future.
During one Q&A session, Loren was asked: “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?”
He admitted that some friendships had changed following the accident.
“A couple of friends came out of the woodworks and have been really supportive, [others] totally reverted and have been reclusive,” he said. “But it’s whatever to me, you know, I got Sabia, that’s all I need.”
Sabia shared a similar perspective, saying: “Going through this together has definitely strengthened a lot of the aspects of our relationship.”
Daily life after a hemicorporectomy
As public interest in Loren’s story has grown, he has also received questions about how he manages everyday tasks.
One of the most common topics people ask about is how he uses the bathroom, something Loren has been willing to explain publicly.
He said: “A colostomy which is my colon pulled out of my body so I can poop.
“And I have bilateral nephrectomies, they’re tubes that go into my kidneys that drain my kidneys into bags so, therefore, that is how I poop, pee, and fart.”
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a colostomy is a surgical procedure that creates an opening in the large intestine.
Sabia plays a major role in Loren’s daily care, helping him by changing his colostomy bag each day and assisting him with showering.
The question everyone is asking
As the couple’s online following has continued to expand, so too have the personal questions directed at them, particularly regarding their intimate life after Loren’s surgery.
Addressing one of the most frequently asked questions, Sabia told the Daily Star: “A question we get repeatedly is, ‘How do we have s** and how do we become intimate?’”
Firmly, she continued: “That is a very personal question that we are never going to answer or allude to, as it’s very disrespectful.
“You wouldn’t ask a random couple on the street how they have s** and just because our life circumstances are different, it doesn’t give people the right to ask.”
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