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Randy Gyllin faces the possibility of muscle and nerve damage in his left leg, but he knows it could have been so much worse.

It was mid-afternoon last Wednesday, Aug. 13, and Gyllin was driving a nearly full milk tanker on Highway I in the town of Barre. Just east of Drogseth Road, he went off the road and the truck overturned, landing on the driver’s side.

Gyllin found he was pinned, the steering wheel and dashboard tightly holding his left leg in place. The leg also had a deep gash. To Gyllin, things didn’t look so good. He was in an isolated area — he called it a “no man’s land” — and there was no telling how long it would take to get help.

Luckily for Gyllin, somebody saw his truck off the side of the road and help arrived within about 10 minutes. Rescue workers got an intravenous line started, administering fluids and medicine while the arduous work of freeing him from the truck began.

“Help was there so quick,” said the 24-year-old Mauston native who is an assistant coach for the Holmen High School wrestling team. “I was very fortunate.”

The West Salem Fire Department and First Responders were joined at the scene by the Bangor Fire Department, the La Crosse Sheriff’s Department, the Wisconsin State Patrol, Tri-State Ambulance, Med-Link Air, Goldbeck’s Towing and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

They tried to make Gyllin as comfortable as possible while they began basically taking apart the truck to get him out. They cut off the truck’s roof, cut off the passenger side door and at last were able to get a chain around the dashboard and pull it out enough to free Gyllin, three hours after his truck left the road.

He had no broken bones, but Gyllin lost feeling in his left leg and might have a torn ligament in his left knee. He was in the hospital for two days, mainly to help his kidneys flush the enzyme produced when the circulation in his leg was cut off for so long.

In a phone interview from his home in La Crosse, Gyllin said some feeling has come back in the leg and he should know this week whether there was any permanent nerve or muscle damage from the accident.

“I was very lucky. I guess God was on my side Wednesday afternoon,” Gyllin said. “I’m not taking anything for granted.”

He said he plans to stop by the West Salem Fire Department some day soon and let them know how grateful he is for their lifesaving efforts.

“The West Salem Fire Department did just a phenomenal job,” he said. “I can’t emphasize enough about how great they were. My hat’s off to them.”

Contact Randy Erickson at randy.erickson@lee.net or 786-6812.