Participant Profile: Jack Wier

On April 17, 2008, Jack Wier will attend the Papal Mass at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. He considers his presence at the Mass nothing short of a miracle.

On May 20, 2007, Jack headed out to the back acres of his farm to continue working on digging a small lake. The site was 16 acres away from his house. As usual, he passed a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary that stands near the site, made the Sign of the Cross, and said a short prayer. He drove his Bobcat (a type of heavy equipment) into the excavated hole and picked up a cottonwood tree to remove it. A large branch (5-7 inches in diameter) broke off and drove into his body, impaling him against the seat.

Fortunately, Jack found his cell phone in the pocket of his jeans. Because of the branch, he couldn’t remove the phone from his pocket in the usual way, so he made a hole in his jeans to reach the phone. Despite the depth of the hole, he got a signal and called his wife, Julie. She answered on the first ring. He told her what happened and asked her to alert emergency medical services and tell them to bring a chainsaw. Not wanting to frighten her, he told her that a tree had fallen on him, but he couldn’t see any blood. While he waited for help to arrive, Jack decided to see if he could back the Bobcat up and pull the branch out. But when he tried to reverse the vehicle, it moved forward instead. Had he been successful in pulling the branch out, he’d have bled to death before help arrived.

When the emergency team arrived, they weren’t sure how to get Jack out of the vehicle. From the branch’s position, they assumed it had severed his spinal column. As they began to cut away portions of the branch, Jack discovered he could move his toes and help them get him out of the vehicle. By stretcher and golf cart, Jack was carried out of the pit, a portion of the branch still protruding from his abdomen. Though Jack had called his wife on his cell phone, the emergency responders couldn’t get a signal until they climbed to the rim of the pit Jack had dug. They called a helicopter to transport Jack to the trauma center at Saint Louis University Hospital.

At the hospital, Jack was taken to surgery for an operation that would last three hours. During his stay in the hospital, he would have five more surgeries and spend ten days in a medically-induced coma. But, miraculously, Jack survived. A doctor told his family that the branch had just missed seven major organ groups. In some cases, it seemed as if the organs had shifted to avoid the branch. Jack’s oldest son asked the doctor, “What do you call that?” “I call that a miracle” was her only reply. Jack was released from the hospital on June 6, 2007. He is back at work and ready to travel to Washington, D.C.

Jack feels lucky to be attending the Papal Mass. “I’ve always believed in the power of prayer. This opportunity means everything to me. It is only by the grace of God that I’m vertical and on this side of the grass. Being at this Mass is a way I can express my gratitude to God that I have more time to spend with my grandchildren.”