Tree branch impales South Jersey man through face and into brain in freak accident: "It's mind-boggling"

In a freak accident, a South Jersey father was impaled by a tree branch in his face when he fell from a ladder in his yard. The branch went through his nose and into his brain.

CBS Philadelphia takes you inside the operating room at Jefferson Health for a close-up look at the tricky medical intervention that saved 45-year-old Troy Hathaway's life.

X-rays showed the tree branch going through his cheek, nose, eye and up into his brain.

Hathaway said he was cutting branches in his backyard in Glassboro, New Jersey, when the ladder suddenly gave way, and he fell about 8 feet.

"Initially, I really thought I broke my jaw," Hathaway said.

He didn't know at the time, but the broken tree branch was sticking out of his jaw.

"I hadn't lost consciousness, I wasn't nauseous, I felt fine other than being a little bit sore and my ego being a bit bruised," Hathaway said.

At Jefferson Health's trauma center, the medical team quickly realized they needed to call in the specialists.

"This was a pretty huge piece of tree that was stuck through his face and into his brain. And we needed to move quickly on this, but we wanted to move smart," Neurosurgeon Chris Farrell said.

Farrell said the team wanted to avoid having to cut the skull and decided to go through the nose, which is sometimes how they remove brain tumors.

Farrell said luckily the branch didn't pierce any vital tissues and it was able to be removed through Hathaway's cheek without causing any damage or bleeding.

"Overall, you know, a tricky thing, but it couldn't have gone better," Farrell said.

"I was so lucky to be with such an amazing surgical team, like the doctors, the whole team are absolutely beyond words," Hathaway said.

The four-hour surgery left him with just a few stitches and some bruising, but no issues with breathing, or seeing. He said he's fine.

"Absolutely. Yes, no, no issues. That's it's mind-boggling to think of that," Hathaway said. "It's emotional because it's tough to sit there and think like how close it could have been."

Hathaway is on antibiotics and back home feeling lucky and grateful to be reunited with his wife and daughter.

Doctors were concerned about infection, but there are no signs of that and he is expected to make a full recovery with no issues.