Ganson Family Scrapbook: December 2018

Caleb saw a picture of his friend Kate building a "wagon" in her driveway. It inspired him to try... in the rain.

And then Daddy has pity on him. :)

Going to see the Nutcracker!

CC Polar Express Review Game and Christmas party...

On December 3rd, Kenton caught his leg in an auger. He went through several huge surgeries, and eventually they amputated the leg. I took a trip back up to Maryland to serve as the "social secretary" while he was in the hospital. This was soon after I surprised him by showing up. :)

After his second surgery....

I posted "the story" on Facebook about what happened and kept people updated just about every day as they fought to save Kenton's leg (and then decided to amputate it.) Just so I don't forget some of these details, here is one of my post from Facebook about what happened that evening:

I’ve already shared a few posts about some of the ways God showed up in the circumstances surrounding my brother’s accident… But there are a few more details that I think need to be shared because God has been SO BIG and SO FAITHFUL throughout all of this! Kenton encouraged me to post this because he wants everyone to know!

So the auger runs in a shallow trough in the ground. When they pull the corn wagons up, they unload the corn into this trough and the auger takes it about 10 feet to… wherever it needs to go. (My farm lingo is rusty to say the least!) When Kenton misstepped and got his heel caught in the auger, it pulled his foot down into the trough, and then his leg into the auger, and the auger drug him a few feet. The auger stopped right before Kenton came to a small cement wall. Kenton thought, “Thank goodness I stalled it!” Kenton never lost consciousness throughout the whole event and everything that followed. He’s the one who called Holly and the kids right away and then called 911. When the boys arrived, Kenton gave them orders about what needed done - what breakers to throw, directions to get the torch from the machine shed using the skid loader, etc. Kaitlyn went to the lane to tell the first responders where to go. In Kenton’s mind, he had probably broken his foot and needed stitches for some severe cuts. He really just wanted to get out and was formulating a plan to do so. I’m so glad Shawn Bender arrived before the ambulance or anyone else could get there because he told Kenton he needed to wait. (Kenton said yesterday, “If we would have done what I wanted the boys to do, I now realized I would have bled out right away and my kids would have watched me die.”) The fact was, the auger stopped at just the right time and his leg was in such a position that he really wasn’t bleeding that much… the wall of the trough and auger were holding it all together. If it hadn’t stopped when it had, he would have run into the cement wall and continue to have his leg eaten up. Also, the hood of his jacket had gotten caught in the auger, but the auger stopped before it could pull his head down.

There were other details that night…. Half way through using the sawzall to cut the auger, the battery died, but a neighbor who had stopped to help happened to have another sawzall in his truck with a full battery. They tried to call 3 different choppers to life-flight Kenton, but no one could fly because of the snow and ice. (Kenton said, “They probably didn’t realize how air sick I get!”

) Shaina Custer Saturday, who was running the operation for the EMTs was amazing, calling all the shots and working to get Kenton out as quickly as possible, knowing that the muscles only had so much time they could go without circulation before the damage would be too great. (She knows our family well and was the one in the ambulance to pray over Kenton and see the pain dissipate.)

Because Kenton had his cell phone on him and didn’t lose consciousness, and because Holly and the kids were home and could get there right away, and because the EMTs could get him out so quickly (he was out 45 minutes after his call to 911) with the help of equipment Kenton or the neighbors had, and because they could get him to Ruby Memorial (instead of Oakland) where the surgeon was, his muscles went without circulation for about 4 and half hours, still within the window of being able to recover.

But here is the part of the story that blows my mind: the next day, some guys from Beitzel Corp showed up to replace the auger (because they knew it needed done; they didn’t ask - they just took care of it!) They put in the new auger and put a grate over it, but when they went to start the motor, it wouldn’t start. Kenton (on the phone from the hospital), said, “Well, it’s obviously the reset button… it’s not where you would think it would be.” So he explained where it was. They tried that, and it didn’t work. (Usually, the reset button would be for if you try to start the auger and it’s frozen… instead of burning up the motor, it will just shut off and then you have to hit the reset button to get it up and running. Hypothetically, if something got stuck in it that prevented it from turning, it should work the same way.) They took the motor in to get fixed, and here is what they found: the motor never stalled. (And really, with the torque the auger had and the way it was working, there’s really no reason it should have - it should have just kept eating up Kenton’s leg.) Instead, they found that the capacitor had died. Why in the world that part had broken right when it did, no one can say - it has nothing to do with safety features or stalling the motor if something is stuck in it. It’s like God just reached down and said, “That’s enough,” and broke the capacitor at just the right moment - at a place where Kenton’s leg wouldn’t bleed out, before he came to the cement wall, before his hood pulled any of the rest of his body into the auger.

I know God didn’t plan this accident for my brother. I know he doesn’t want Kenton to live with pain or a leg that doesn’t work. But I also know that He is still absolutely in control, and what Satan meant for evil, Jesus will redeem for good in a million different ways. I already see it in the way the community is pouring out its love to my brother and the way they will continue to do so over the next several months as he recovers. I feel like Kenton is George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Through a circumstance that looks bleak and hopeless, all the people whom Kenton has impacted are able to pour back into his lap some of what he has blessed them with over the years.

Thank God for the body of Christ! Thank God for His omnipotence! Thank God for His provision and His protection! To God be the glory!

The auger Kenton got caught in (and they had to cut out to free him.)

The trough that held the auger (now fixed and with a grate over it)...

Kenton giving instructions to Dennis about what to tell Rich who was back on the farm trying to fix a water pump.

Fever from the infection that started... the only way you will get your wife and little sister to fan you.

After I had been in Maryland for a week, Ben came up with the kids for a few days. I stayed a few more days after they went home because I wanted to be there on the day they amputated. I ended up staying in Maryland for about two weeks.

As soon as the leg was amputated, Kenton said he felt better than he had in two weeks!

First walk after amputation. Much easier than when he tried to walk the day before... it exhausted him then! He said, "I am speed" at the beginning of the video...

By another miracle, Kenton came home on Christmas Eve!