Man discovers his neck broken for 40 years

[Still Waters]

A former soldier who has seen active service in Northern Ireland and the Gulf has found out he has lived with a broken neck for more than 40 years.

Philip Loveday, 59, injured his neck playing rugby when he was 16 after a player fell on him while playing a match for the Army.

X-rays at the time failed to reveal he had a broken vertebra.

Mr Loveday, from Bridgend, found out only when he went for an MRI scan after dislocating his shoulder.

He believes an active lifestyle, including continuing playing rugby for a number of clubs, has prevented him suffering problems because of the long-term injury.

He said he had been told he would have to live with the damage as doctors were unable to repair the damage to the C3 vertebra.

Mr Loveday said: "It is incredible that I'm still here and walking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...-wales-17898487

[Kaikou]

Wow, It's amazing to think he's gone for so long with such an injury.

[odiesbsc]

40 years, WOW. I was in a motorcycle accident in 1980 in Forks WA. I was there for two weeks in intensive care. I kept telling them that when I raised my head it felt wobbley (like a bobblehead). After two weeks I told them I wanted to go to the VA hospital in Portland OR. They sent an ambulance up from Portland and took me there. When I arrived the doctor that was checking me in was asking questions and I told him when I raised my head it felt wobbley. He said lay back and don't move then called for a nurse to get me in xray immediatly. Come to find out, my neck was broken, he said it was the little bone that holds your skull in place was sheered off. He called it my odontoid (spelling?)

Some time after I was home, we got a bill from the hospital in Forks WA. for more than 6,000 dollars, My wife called them and told them about my broken neck and told em' to stick the bill where the sun don't shine, that I could have been paralyzed. We never heard anything else from them. I suppose I could have sued them for malpractice but I didn't.