ambulances & rescue firegeezer on 20 May 2008 09:08 pm
Photographer Snaps His Own Trauma
A NEWSPAPER PHOTOGRAPHER IN PROVO, UTAH, was working the State high school track and field championships at the local school Saturday. While he was snapping away, Ryan McGeeney wandered into the the “no go” zone and suddenly found that a javelin had gone part way through his leg.
The Associated Press reported:
Striking just below the knee, the javelin tip went through the skin and emerged on the other side of his leg.
“It wasn’t real painful. … I was very lucky in that it didn’t hit any blood vessels, nerves, ligaments or tendons,” McGeeney said.
Much of the javelin was cut off at the scene. The piece in McGeeney’s leg was removed at a hospital, and he received 13 stitches.
The unfortunate lad who had tossed the javelin was Anthony Miles of Provo High School. He told that his “heart just stopped” when he saw what happened as he watched his javelin soar.
While McGeeney was being tended to, he grabbed his camera and, like a true news hound, started snapping away. And besides, he said that his editor wouldn’t have otherwise believed what happened.
A little later on, Miles went on to throw again and won the state title for javelin in his school’s size classification.
But the money quote came from his coach, Richard Vance, “One of the first things that came to my mind was, ‘Good thing we brought a second javelin,”‘
Sports Illustrated carried the STORY.
