Injured surfer describes collision
Thursday, July 17, 2008 10:52 AM PDT
PORTLAND (AP) — The Bend teenager who had an arm severed in surfing accident this month remembers the pain he felt when a small boat overran him off Cape Kiwanda.
He also remembers something else: ‘‘I moved my shoulder and my arm felt light.’’ Cole Ortega, 14, recalled the incident in an interview with The Oregonian from his hospital bed in Portland, where he has been since the July 6 collision with the dory. Besides the severed arm, Ortega had broker ribs, a collapsed lung and a lacerated scalp. A surgical team at Legacy Emanuel Hospital reattached the left arm, but it will be at least nine months before anyone knows how much use he will regain. Though Ortega, who is right-handed, can’t yet move his fingers, an occasional pain travels up and down his arm, and he gets a tingling sensation in his fingers.
