Carpenter Survives Nail-Gun Shot in Chest

Carpenter Survives Nail-Gun Shot in Chest

SPOKANE, Wash. - A Moses Lake man is home recovering after a 2 1/8-inch nail ?- misfired from a nail gun ?- was removed from his chest.

"I told him that I thought the nail might be in his heart," said Dr. Mike Jemmette, the emergency-room physician at Deaconess Medical Center who first examined Steven Faber.

"He said, 'Sweet. Can I go snowboarding tomorrow?'" Jemmette reported.

Faber, 24, was injured Thursday while he was putting up siding on a garage in Cheney, about 15 miles south of Spokane. He said the nail gun malfunctioned when his business partner, Brent Heroux, handed it to him.

He credits Heroux and the hospital team for saving his life.

"I really thought I was dying," said Faber, co-owner with Heroux of Green Desert Construction. "It was like my whole life was crashing before my eyes."

Heroux called 911 and then started driving Faber to the hospital. An ambulance intercepted them and took Faber the rest of the way. Emergency room staff removed the clothes nailed to Faber's chest.

"Every time his heart would beat, it would move," Jemmette said of the nail. "We knew it was right next to or in his heart."

X-rays and ultrasound confirmed the nail had jabbed a chamber of the heart.

The doctors' primary concern was what would happen when they pulled out the nail.

Faber was taken to the operating room and given anesthetic. Doctors were prepared to open his chest if the bleeding didn't stop when the nail was removed.

Heart surgeon Dr. Jack Leonard pulled out the nail, noting tongue-in-cheek: "I didn't use a claw hammer."

There was little bleeding and no need for surgery. Faber was discharged Saturday. He's expected to make a full recovery and will only need a week or so away from work.

Jemmette said he often sees nail-gun injuries in the emergency room.

"Nail guns are to be respected," he said. "I've seen nails in everything. I've seen nails in people's butts. I've seen nails in people's heads."

Faber plans to display the nail on his car's rearview mirror.