After 3 weeks in ICU, Arkansas man back home after fall while hanging Christmas lights
.png "Mark Valentine was hanging up a Mickey Mouse wreath at his Arkansas home when he fell 18 feet from a ladder.")
An Arkansas man is back home from the hospital after falling 18 feet while hanging Christmas decorations.
Mark Valentine was standing on a ladder hanging decorations on Nov. 14 when he crashed onto his driveway, resulting in a collapsed left lung, 13 stitches in his skull, and 10 broken ribs, he said in a Facebook post.
His wife, Crystal Valentine, told People that her husband was putting up a Mickey Mouse wreath at their home in Bentonville.
“Mark hit our driveway, and then the ladder fell on top of him,” Crystal told the outlet. “Our neighbor was outside and heard him fall.”
Mark spent 17 days in an intensive care unit and 24 days in the hospital overall, KMBC reported. He told KMBC that he owes his life to the neighbor who witnessed the fall.
“Thankfully, he saved my life, but in the same sense, if I would have taken 30 seconds before climbing the ladder and said, ‘hey BJ, will you come spot me while I climb this ladder,’ I wouldn’t have spent 24 days in the hospital,” he said.
Mark had put up the wreath “multiple times in the past using the same exact ladder/method no problem,” he wrote in the Facebook post, adding that he “completed another older guy achievement” with the fall.
The couple was preparing for the annual Bentonville Heart Lites display, which they’ve held at their home every year since 2014, according to their Facebook page. The family expected this year to be the display’s last due to “family obligations and neighbor complaints.”
The community tradition doubled as a fundraising opportunity — the Valentines also collect donations for multiple sclerosis research from people who come to observe, KNWA reported.
While Mark was in the hospital, neighbors and other members of the community stepped up to help finish the display, KMBC reported.
“We have been touched by a lot of people through this, I would never want to repeat it, but it definitely opened our eyes how much our display touches other people,” Mark said.
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 3:06 PM with the headline "After 3 weeks in ICU, Arkansas man back home after fall while hanging Christmas lights."