"I Have Work To Finish" Lary Holland to the Grim Reaper

The Grim Reaper came to collect a little bit early again and he granted me an adjournment "sine die" while I complete my work here.

I met a gentleman the other day named Mr. Reaper, he was an old friend. He came to collect a bit early and granted me another adjournment, this one "sine die."

Some of you may have heard that either the Friend of the Court attempted a mail bomb hit on me or I was in a freak accident. The reality of it was, I was in an explosion. This explosion was at point blank range and it happened on Thursday in the middle of the day. I was standing next to a truck with a large gasoline tank, the kind that holds over 30 gallons or more. As I approached the tank on the driver's side I heard the sound of a canon and a blaze of metal and fire exploded into me.

I was able to block the main fireball (the majority of it) from my face with my left forearm. Unfortunately, bare skin does not hold up very well against Gasoline Liquid, Gasoline Vapor, and the Explosive Force necessary to escape a solid rusty metal tank.

http://www.burnsurgery.com/Documents/gasoline_safety.doc

Now some things that I happened to learn about was:

"In spite of the routine use of gasoline, many people are unaware of or unappreciative of the dangers of gasoline. Gasoline is dangerous because it is highly volatile – the fumes are capable of ignition up to 12 feet away from a pooled source.  This inherent danger is further multiplied by its explosive potential. Flammables burn at close to room temperature (100 degrees F), when they are near a spark, flame, or even static electricity. It can float on water and may spread long distances, making ignition and flash back possible. Gasoline vapor is highly explosive and may ignite as a “fireball” with a temperature of 15,000 degrees F."

Now again, my forearm was able to stop the majority of the fireball as I was escaping on the tail end of the concussive force of the tank exploding into me. As I was hit with the entire force of the metal and rust fragmentation I was also splashed with gasoline and remained on fire. As the doctors have already asked, are you sure that you didn't black out from the force? I keep replying, I wanted to, but I didn't really have time to fall asleep while I was on fire. I immediately had to focused on putting fires out that were still on my body, tearing off clothing and extinguishing open flames that were still on me. This was successful after a considerable amount of damage to my arms and abdominal region both through bruising, shrapnel, and burns.

I obtained a ride from a family member to the nearest walk-in clinic and asked if they were equipped to handle the damage that has occurred to me as it was becoming pretty critical at this point. I needed immediate x-rays to see if my left ribs pierced my lungs, because I was having problems breathing and the amount of visible trauma that had occurred to that general area was pretty visible. They were unable to handle any of the care except to wrap me up. They contacted an ambulance to get me to the nearest hospital. Their surgeon was not equipped to address the damage to my left arm. I received a tetanus shot and a vallium shot and eventually an iv which I refused for sometime. I had to get over it, to get treated.

I was taken by ambulance and arrived at one of Michigan's Burn Centers for them to begin working on me. Each day has been a new set of issues associated with the blast, but it looks like I am finally on my last full day at the Hospital. I will be checking out tomorrow after I am cleared by a neurologist and an ear nose and throat specialist regarding some equilibrium and migraine issues. The bottom line is, I have alot of work to do, and I don't have time to lay down and die. We all have alot of work to do, so let's get it done!

• Support: the Bike Trek for Equal Parenting Trip (August 11 - 18, 2007)
• Support: the DC Rally for Equal Parenting (August 18, 2007)
• Support: Budget Cuts for Title IV-D Services
• Support: House Bill 4564