The Donegal man hit by a high-speed train has revealed how he had to hold his internal organs in his hands to save himself from dying.
Kevin Rooney miraculously survived being hit by the train while out jogging in The Hague in Holland.
The Letterkenny man has allowed one train to pass but failed to hear a second train because of the noise vacuum.
He was then struck by the full force of the 140 tonne electric Srpinter train.
Speaking from his hospital bed Kevin told Donegal Daily he remembers everything about his horrific ordeal.
“I was sitting there with my liver and my guts in my hand. It was like a scene from Saving Private Ryan,” joked Kevin.
Kevin, who works for the European Patents Office, says he jogs the route all the time but said he was just unlucky to be hit in the freak accident.
“I was out for a jog and I came to a level crossing where I run all the time.
“A train came along and passed and I went to run across the crossing but hadn’t banked on another train coming the other way.
“As normal when I come to level crossings it was choc-a-block with traffic; I expected nothing from the other direction.
“The next thing I know I’m in front of the damned thing. The train wasn’t going slow either; The crossing is between the cities and they speed up between those points. It was probably at maximum speed,” he revealed.
The 40 year old was rushed to hospital where he was brought to intensive care and placed on the critical list for 24 hours.
He was treated for a collapsed lung, broken knee cap and other injuries.
Doctors told him he only survived because he was so fit and his heart was so strong.
I was conscious all the way through; the doctor kept telling me to ‘stay with us’.
“When I got to hospital, I think they were quite surprised at how well I was considering I had just been hit by a train,” he said.
Amazingly Kevin is back on his feet and walking again.
“I’m on my feet and walking again. Once you can breathe again you’re grand and now I have to wait until the body recovers properly
“Thankfully I didn’t end up under the train. I was very very lucky,” added Kevin.
His mother Glenda, who has dubbed her son the ‘bionic man’, is planning to visit her son in Holland this weekend.
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