EMERY COUNTY, Utah — Twenty-two-year-old Coy Kummer didn’t expect to end his hunting season with his leg pinned together, sitting on the couch.
“These two pins are in my femur and these two are in my fibula,” he said as he showed his leg to FOX 13.
Yet, pins and all, Coy said he’s lucky to be feeling so well.
“Appreciate what you have,” he said.
Especially because for Coy, what he had changed in an instant.
About four weeks ago, his knee was dislocated and his artery severed, cutting off all the blood supply to his lower leg.
“Even in the operating room, they say they went back and forth on whether they were going to amputate or not,” he said.
Coy and his father, Brian, had been elk hunting near Spanish Fork when they stopped to help another hunter pack his bull off the mountain.
As they loaded the hunter’s elk on Coy's horse, the bull’s antlers poked the horse, spooking her.
“She just exploded,” said Brian.
The horse bolted forward, pushing Brian over.
Coy jumped out in front of the horse and grabbed the halter rope in an effort to stop her.
Instead of stopping, Coy's horse ran him over.
“I turned around to see where the horses were going and I see Coy standing, and he says, 'I can’t feel anything in my leg,'” said Brian.
Coy stood for a moment longer before collapsing.
“I could see his leg and I could instantly tell his leg was broken,” said Brian.
Neither Brian nor Coy knew the extent of his injury at the time.
Using a satellite radio, Brian put in a call for help. He received a response almost immediately.
“They said help was on the way,” said Brian.
Brian said two officers with the Division of Wildlife Resources arrived within about 30 minutes — they were the ones who made all the difference in saving his son’s leg.
Officer Chuck Lawrence had Coy wrap his arms around his neck so he could lift him up. Then Officer Justin Brimhall held Coy's legs up, and they started walking him out.
“That was a miracle right there,” said Brian.
It was one of many miracles the Kummer family have seen on the long road to recovery.
“I didn’t realize how grateful I was to have two legs to run on until I didn’t have one to stabilize me,” said Coy.
He has already had three surgeries on his leg so far, with another knee surgery ahead of him.
The hope, Coy said, is to be walking again in the next three to six months.
