Teen impaled by tractor spike in freak sledding accident, Tennessee family says
Todd and Christie Reid watched as nurses helped their son take his first steps toward recovery days after being impaled by a metal tractor spear in a freak sledding accident.
“He walked the hallway length and back,” the couple wrote of their “miracle” teen in a Facebook post Thursday alongside video from inside a Tennessee hospital. “He was determined to tag the door at each end. God is so good!”
The Reids, who live in Arlington, say it’s a blessing 17-year-old Sam is still alive. They were spending the weekend away in Natchez, Mississippi, when they learned their son had been thrown from a sled and pierced by a large metal spike used to lift hay bales, according to the Daily Memphian.
The accident happened Feb. 13 as Sam was being pulled on a sled hitched to four-wheeler, Christie Reid told the newspaper. At some point the rope broke, sending the teen careening toward a tractor parked nearby.
“The friend who was driving heard the rope snap and tried to run and intercept Sam,” Christie Reid said, according to the Daily Memphian. “He didn’t make it in time. Sam slid right into that hay fork.”
The metal stake entered his lower abdomen, up through his chest and exited behind his neck and shoulder, according to the Reids, who said “an inch either way” could have killed him.
They’ve been at Sam’s side ever since, keeping friends and family updated on his condition via Facebook.
“God saved Sam that day,” the couple wrote. “He has a long road to recovery. Prayers for comfort and endurance.”
Sam underwent emergency surgery to remove the four-foot spear that just barely missed his heart and spinal cord, Todd and Christie Reid told WREG. In addition to losing part of his left lung, the teen suffered several broken ribs and neck bones.
He’s also experienced weakness and numbness in his limbs, his parents told WREG.
In an update Thursday, the Reids said doctors at Regional One Health Medical Center had removed one of Sam’s chest tubes, and worked to clean and redress his wounds. The teen is expected to head home from the hospital very soon, they wrote on Facebook.
As winter weather blanketed the state earlier this week, the couple peeked out from one of the hospital windows.
“Todd said that Sam sure would like to be out there, playing in the snow,” Christie Reid told the Daily Memphian. “I immediately said, ‘Nope, nope, no way.’ We’re not going to be playing in the snow for a very long time.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 1:20 PM with the headline "Teen impaled by tractor spike in freak sledding accident, Tennessee family says."