Thunder Bay arm-wrestler who nearly lost both arms prepares to defend world titles in Malaysia
CBC
From nearly losing his arms as a result of a workplace accident to becoming a world champion arm-wrestler, the last 15 years have been a wild ride for Dan Plexman of Thunder Bay, Ont.
The accident happened in 2008 while Plexman was working for a hydroelectric company in Red Lake, Ont.
"I was working alone in a manlift," Plexman recalled. "I was working under live power lines.
"I was working all by myself, and that right there is a big no no," he said. "I didn't have the electrical knowhow and the electrical knowledge and experience to be working by myself.... Plus, it's illegal. It's just not safe. It's not legal for an apprentice to be working alone under live power lines. And I was asked to do that."
Plexman didn't make contact with the overhead lines, but came close enough to create an electrical arc.
"I wasn't electrocuted, but I was burnt in the electrical fire created by the electricity arcing from the overhead lines to the steel manlift that I was in," he said. "I was engulfed in flames.
"I reached through the flames for the fire extinguisher that was mounted by my feet, and I tried to pull the pin, but my hands were already so damaged, I couldn't even pull the pin or let alone operate the fire extinguisher," Plexman said. "And the fire extinguisher was metal, so it caused even more damage to my already very burned hands. So I dropped the fire extinguisher and then I rolled out of the machine, but I was still connected by my safety harness."
Plexman said he dangled there in the harness, five metres above the ground, until the harness burned through and he fell to the ground.
He received third- to sixth-degree burns to 60 per cent of his body. His co-workers extinguished the flames and Plexman was quickly taken to hospital for treatment.
"They immediately induced me into a coma," he said. "I was in a coma for 11 days, and during those 11 days, [there] were just constant surgeries.
"The surgeons told my family, 'Dan's got about a 13 per cent chance to live, and if he does survive, we're making plans to amputate both of his arms from above the shoulders.'"
But that certainly wasn't how things turned out.
In fact, 14 years to the day of his workplace accident, Plexman was winning the left and right arm titles at the International Federation of Armwrestling's 2022 world championships in France, competing in the men's 80-kilogram disabled category.
Plexman had first tried arm-wrestling just a few years prior to that win, in 2019, as a way to help with his injuries. The scar tissue causes his arms to contract toward his body, he explained.
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