'I knew I couldn't pull that out': Man, 52, drives himself 12 MILES to the hospital after accidentally piercing himself in the heart with a 3.5-inch nail

  • Doug Bergeson said he 'hardly noticed it' when his nail gun slipped and the nail pierced his heart 
  • He said he was building a frame for a fireplace in his Wisconsin home when the accident happened 
  • Didn't realize how severe the accident was until a few minutes later, but knew it hit his heart because it was twitching as his heart beat 
  • Underwent open heart surgery to remove the nail and check for other damage
  • Said he was very lucky because it was just a hair's distance from a major artery 

By Abigail Miller For Dailymail.com

Published: | Updated:

A 52-year-old man said he 'hardly noticed it' when a three-inch nail drove into his heart in a construction accident. 

Doug Bergeson was building a frame for a fireplace at his home in Marinette, Wisconsin, on June 25 when the accident happened.

'I was standing in an awkward place and didn't have a great grip on the gun, so when I fired it one of the nails ricocheted and hit me,' Doug told Daily Mail Online.

But he didn't realize how severe the accident was until a few minutes later, once he'd already started co clean up.

'I thought it just nicked me, then I was feeling around on my chest and looked down and thought "Oh that's not good at all,"' he said. 

'I knew I couldn't pull that out.' 

Doug Bergeson was building a frame for a fireplace at his home in Marinette, Wisconsin, on June 25 when his nail gun slipped and the nail pierced him in the heart

Doug Bergeson was building a frame for a fireplace at his home in Marinette, Wisconsin, on June 25 when his nail gun slipped and the nail pierced him in the heart

Once realizing how deep the nail was into his chest, he quickly got in the car and drove himself the 12 miles to the emergency room at the Bay Area Medical Center. 

'It started to get really painful around mile eight,' he said. 'I could tell it was in my heart because it kept twitching with my heartbeat.' 

When Doug got to the hospital he was quickly taken into the back and a number of nurses surrounded him. 

'I was kind of keeping one eye on them and trying to text my wife to say they'd ripped my shirt and I would need a new shirt, but auto-correct happened and the text made no sense,' he explained. 

 It started to get really painful around mile eight... it kept twitching with my heartbeat

'So when she got to the hospital and saw what it was she just fell over.' 

After some testing and a tetanus shot Doug was brought to the BayCare Aurora Medical Center in Green Bay where he underwent open-heart surgery. 

The surgery, which between an hour and an hour-and-a-half, removed the nail and made sure that no surrounding areas were seriously damaged. 

He was operated on by Dr Alexander Roitstein, who told Daily Mail Online that he was incredibly fortunate.

Doctors said the three-and-a-half inch nail was less than millimeters away from hitting a major artery, which would've given Doug just three minutes to live 

Doctors said the three-and-a-half inch nail was less than millimeters away from hitting a major artery, which would've given Doug just three minutes to live 

'The nail was about an eighth of an inch away from a major artery, and had he been leaning just so or had his heart been in a different part of the beating cycle we could've had a very different situation on our hands,' Dr Roitstein said.

Dr Roitstein said Doug said his reasoning for not pulling out the nail had to do with the death of Steve Irwin, who pulled a stingray's stinger out of his heart after being pierced and bled to death on camera

Dr Roitstein said Doug said his reasoning for not pulling out the nail had to do with the death of Steve Irwin, who pulled a stingray's stinger out of his heart after being pierced and bled to death on camera

The heart surgeon also commended Doug's sensibility in the moment after the nail pierced his heart. 

'It says a lot that he had the situational awareness not to pull the nail out of his chest,' he explained. 

Dr Roitstein said Doug said his reasoning for not pulling out the nail had to do with the death of Steve Irwin, who pulled a stingray's stinger out of his heart after being pierced and bled to death on camera.

'I was lucky, Dr Roitstein told me that had the nail gone any further - not even a millimeter just the width of sheet of paper - I might've had three minutes to live,' Doug said to Daily Mail.

Now, about a month and a half after the incident, he said he's feeling much better and just about back to full health. He even got to keep the nail. 

'I'm feeling good now, right after the surgery I had to be really careful,' he said. 

'The doctors had to cut my chest completely open so they said if the stitches rip and I had to come back it would be twice as bad.

'Now I'm not on pain medication and I'm just on a 20 pound lifting restriction so I'm feeling much more normal.'  

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