Scarborough woman Sharon Stone tells of her lucky escape after falling from ladder on to metal rod

Friends and neighbours have been rallying round a Scarborough woman impaled on a rod that narrowly missed puncturing her heart.
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Sharon Stone was decorating at her home on Rothbury Street last Wednesday when she fell from a ladder onto a box of poles from a dismantled shoe rack.

One of the rods plunged 20 cm deep into her chest, missing her heart by just a couple of inches.

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“I’m very grateful that it didn’t go through any of my major organs,” said the 51-year-old.

Sharon Stone with flowers and cards of supportSharon Stone with flowers and cards of support
Sharon Stone with flowers and cards of support

“I didn’t move or look. I just thought ‘I don’t want to die, please don’t let me die’.”

Her ex-husband rang 999 and when paramedics and firefighters arrived, there were some discussions about how to get Sharon into an ambulance.

Eventually, they helped her walk - with the rod still attached - into the waiting emergency vehicle.

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She was taken initially to Hull Royal Infirmary and then to Castle Hill Hospital near Hull where she underwent a two-hour surgery.

Sharon StoneSharon Stone
Sharon Stone

Although she suffered a fractured rib, amazingly the rod did not hit any of her organs.

Doctors have told her it was two inches away from her heart and an inch from her spleen.

“The care I received from Castle Hill was amazing,” said Sharon. “They were so nice.”

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She wants to thank the hospital team, in particular the nurses, who looked after her, as well as the paramedics.

“The ambulance staff were really, really lovely,” she said.

Sharon has a seven-year-old daughter and is an intervention teacher at Scalby School and a youth worker at Graham School.

Since coming home, she has been overwhelmed by offers of help from her friends and neighbours.

People have been walking her dog, cooking her meals every day, bringing bunches of flowers and making cakes.

“I’m so blessed to live in such an amazing street and lovely community and I’m so thankful that we have the NHS.

“I’m never going up a ladder again!”

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