BOTHELL, Wash. — “It happened so fast.”
Dustin Gerstner, a Bothell resident, says he’s grateful to be home after an on-the-job accident that nearly killed him.
Gerstner, a 15-year arborist and owner of Sky High Tree Care, says ever since the bomb cyclone in November, they’ve been non-stop with tree trimming and removal.
“It’s the busiest I’ve seen it in 15 years,” said Gerstner.
A week before Christmas, his crew was cutting trees in Issaquah.
They were cutting a huge cedar and just before making a cut, Dustin says he was about 20 feet up, when he moved over to a maple tree a couple feet away, with no idea he was in any danger.
“I’m watching it and then I start to feel the tree go – the one I’m in. I used that tree for safety and obviously it wasn’t the safer tree. So, I dropped my saw and then I start scurrying around to get back on the right side, so when it fell, I’m on top instead of underneath,” said Gerstner.
He says he would’ve been killed instantly if the tree had landed on top of him.
“But I could stand up. So at that point, they’re like ‘well maybe you might be ok’ and I was like ‘just call paramedics, I gotta get out of here’ and I knew something was going on in my stomach,” said Gerstner.
He wound up in the ICU at Harborview – intubated, with internal bleeding, a spinal fracture and broken hips.
His girlfriend and their two young kids anxiously waiting.
“His blood pressure was bottoming out, they were unable to figure out where the bleeding internally was coming from. We don’t know if he’s gonna make it. I mean, it was terrifying,” said Jennisa Corona, Justin’s girlfriend.
After ten days in the hospital, Gerstner wears the scars with a long road of more surgeries and recovery ahead.
“I probably won’t climb again,” said Gerstner.
The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for mounting hospital bills.
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