By ALISON HORWOOD
Gritty bushwhacker Sam Layton has a quick answer for anyone who asks how he feels about losing a leg in a logging accident.
He tells them he feels bloody lucky to have one left.
"I'm as good as gold," says the tough 60-year-old. "Why the hell would you sit around
feeling sorry for yourself? It's not holding me back and I still have one leg left."
Mr Layton, who has cleared bush and mustered sheep since he was a boy, was logging near Lake Coleridge, 79km from Christchurch, a year ago when disaster struck.
He was alone and felling the last log of the day. He left his tractor idling and went to clear a log from behind the back wheel. The tractor ran backwards and came to rest on his left leg.
Mr Layton spent five days lying alone under the three-tonne machine.
The wheel came to rest between his mid-shin and mid-thigh, shattering the bone in countless places.
Many would have given up, but not Mr Layton.
"I lay back briefly on the grass and said, 'You bitch, you've got me'." Then he started figuring out how he was going to survive.
He found a stick, and spent the first day groping around with it to pull a pair of overalls off the tractor and make a tent to keep rain and sun out. He used his hard hat to gather rain as drinking water, and at night used it as a pillow.
Mr Layton also spent three days trying to drive the still-idling tractor off his leg.
"I managed to use the stick to put her into first gear. I found another stick to operate the hand accelerator. I almost got there - I saw the wheels move - then the bloody thing ran out of diesel."
He was getting weaker and drifting in and out of sleep when he heard a car door slam and saw a mate he sometimes worked with.
His leg was amputated at Christchurch Hospital, and during his rehabilitation at nearby Princess Margaret Hospital, Mr Layton surprised the staff with his quick recovery.
"After a month they gave me these sticks to get around on, but I threw them away and said, 'Bugger that.' Another month after that and I was walking around pretty good on the artificial leg."
He aimed to get back to work six months ago, but the only hold-up was waiting for the right truck for his new firewood business.
He is not logging or driving any more, but cuts timber and processes it into firewood.
"The leg's fine, it's all bloody good. It's happened and I accept it and I just want to keep on doing what I was."
By ALISON HORWOOD
Gritty bushwhacker Sam Layton has a quick answer for anyone who asks how he feels about losing a leg in a logging accident.
He tells them he feels bloody lucky to have one left.
"I'm as good as gold," says the tough 60-year-old. "Why the hell would you sit around
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