Skydiver films himself smashing to earth after daring stunt goes wrong

2023-01-11

Stomach-churning moment skydiver films himself smashing to earth leaving him with a snapped tailbone and three separate breaks in his spine after daring stunt goes wrong

Josh Poly, 33, was skydiving with friends in Los Gatos, California
He was trying a more advanced maneuver when a series of mistakes occurred
Despite injuries, including three fractures to his spine, he made a full recovery

A skydiver caught on the camera the horrifying moment he thought he had been left paralyzed after smashing into the ground and breaking his spine while trying out a ‘deadly’ new stunt.

Josh Poly was skydiving with friends near his home at the time in Los Gatos, California, when the freak accident occurred.

The 33-year-old said he was trying a more advanced ‘swooping’ maneuver when a series of mistakes resulted in him crashing into the ground and being thrown into a ‘washing machine cycle-like’ tumble.

As well as attempting the ‘dangerous’ maneuver, Josh admits that he misjudged the altitude as he was coming in to land.

Josh Poly was skydiving with friends near his home at the time in Los Gatos, California. The 33-year-old said he was trying a more advanced ‘swooping’ maneuver

A series of mistakes resulted in him crashing into the ground and being thrown into a ‘washing machine cycle-like’ tumble

Josh admits that he misjudged his altitude as he was coming in to land

Josh had also failed to test out new gloves before the jump, which meant that he struggled to steer his parachute in the way that he normally does

He had also failed to test out new gloves before the jump, which meant that he struggled to steer his parachute in the way that he normally does.

But miraculously – despite suffering three fractures to his spine and snapping his tailbone in half – he was sent home from hospital the same day and made a full recovery just four months later.

The warehouse worker has now shared shocking footage of the accident in October 2020 to warn other new skydivers to take extra care and progress slowly.

Josh, from San Jose, California, said: ‘It was the very first jump of the day, there was no wind really so you’re going to be flying in to land a lot faster – usually you want a little bit of a headwind to slow you down a bit.

‘I had been swooping where the idea is to speed up your parachute, maneuver a turn and then as you’re coming in you try to glide close to the ground – when you start getting into that it can be a lot more dangerous.’

Despite suffering three fractures to his spine and snapping his tailbone in half, Josh was sent home from hospital the same day and made a full recovery just four months later

The warehouse worker has now shared shocking footage of the accident, from October 2020, to warn other new skydivers to take extra care and progress slowly

He added: ‘I misjudged the altitude slightly – I checked on the video and I was about 100 feet lower than I thought I was – so when I started this maneuver I was already low and out of position.

‘As I was turning into my final landing turn I was coming in really fast and I saw how close the ground was and that was my “oh s***” moment.

‘I reached up for my risers to try and level my parachute out but I also had some gloves on that I had never jumped with so I couldn’t feel my toggles as much as I could’ve.

‘I tried to pull down on them and that just didn’t do anything, the parachute was still diving very steeply at the ground. I barely had any time to react.

‘Before I knew it I hit the ground and it was like a washing machine cycle after that – just tumbling and tumbling.

‘The only person that really saw it was a girl that drives and picks us up. She came over and she was hysterical and that’s when I knew that I had messed up.

‘I didn’t know how bad it was at first. The pain didn’t really come in until later on because of the adrenaline and shock of it all.’

Josh hit the ground with his feet, followed by his buttocks

He then tumbled, shredding his clothes and battering his body against the rough terrain

A friend waiting nearby who witnessed the crash called an ambulance and waited around 25 minutes with Josh before he was rushed to Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister

The avid skydiver hit the ground with his feet, followed by his buttocks, before ‘tumbling’, shredding his clothes and battering his body against the rough terrain.

A friend waiting nearby who witnessed the crash called an ambulance and waited around 25 minutes with Josh before he was rushed to Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister.

A CAT scan then revealed that he had compressed the L3 and 5 vertebrae and ‘burst’ the L4 vertebrae in his spine with multiple fractures, as well snapping his tailbone in half and splintering parts of his ankle bones off.

He claims hospital doctors told him that his injuries were too severe to be treated there before he was transferred to Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto via medical helicopter.

But – despite fearing he would be paralyzed – he was discharged the same day and sent home to recover with a wheelchair, back brace and doughnut cushion for his painful tailbone break.

After four months of wearing the back brace constantly besides showering – even while sleeping – he miraculously made a full recovery without the need for surgery.

A CAT scan revealed that Josh had compressed the L3 and 5 vertebrae and ‘burst’ the L4 vertebrae in his spine with multiple fractures, as well snapping his tailbone in half and splintering parts of his ankle bones off. But – despite fearing he would be paralyzed – he was discharged the same day and sent home to recover with a wheelchair, back brace and doughnut cushion for his painful tailbone break

Josh said: ‘Once I got to the hospital and the days following that’s when the pain got really bad.

‘That was probably one of the scariest moments. I was thinking, “I just hope it doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be able to walk or lose feeling in my legs.”

‘The tailbone was broken in half and that was probably the most painful one. I couldn’t sit down or do anything without excruciating pain and it took a while to heal.

‘I had to have help doing everything. It was really hard to walk and sit up or even roll out of bed.’

He continued: ‘It seemed like it took forever but it slowly got better and better until I was able to get out of bed and go to the bathroom by myself.

‘I was really lucky because I’ve had X-rays taken of my spine since and the nerves in my spinal cord are so close to where those breaks are – the doctor didn’t know I didn’t have nerve pain.’

Despite his terrifying experience, Josh says he was back skydiving as soon as he recovered and still jumps every couple of weeks to this day.

He now hopes to warn others new to the sport to take extra care to avoid the same mistakes he made.

Josh advised: ‘Take your time when you’re progressing, you don’t want to rush into anything and get complacent because that’s how I was getting.

‘Just take it slow and if you’re out of position or something feels off in your gut then listen to that gut feeling. Also always test new equipment out first before getting up there.

‘When you’re trying to progress quickly you want that small, fast parachute and stuff but that stuff can kill you. I know a few people have died doing that swooping as well.’

Source: Read Full Article