ANDREW Dack nearly severed his left hand while preparing the wicket for last season's Manning first grade cricket grand final at the Johnny Martin Oval.
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There were initial fears he would lose the hand. He was rushed to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle where he underwent four operations in a month.
His hand is now held together by wires and a plate and Dack, 50, suffered a deep cut that slashed tendons while he also broke and dislocated bones.
"Apparently it was only holding on by a couple of tendons when I did it,'' he said in a matter-of-fact manner.
He faces at least one more operation while infection remains a constant threat, so he's undergoing a course of antibiotics.
But he's determined to recover in time to play in next season's cricket competition, although more of that later.
Dack's hand was crushed by the roller the day before the grand final.
"I was there on my own,'' he recalled. "But I was lucky, my youngest bloke, Jacob, had just been dropped off.''
Jacob arrived just before the incident.
"I didn't want him to get too close in case it upset him, but unfortunately he did see a bit of the damage,'' Dack said.
He added that he wasn't in that much pain.
"More shock than anything else,'' he said. "I told Jacob to ring the ambulance. But he decided to ring his brother, Cameron, who had just dropped him off, because he thought he'd get there quicker.''
That proved to be a master stroke.
Cameron took his dad to Manning Hospital, where it was quickly decided to transport him to Newcastle.
"It was in the back of my mind that I might lose the hand,'' Dack admits. "The surgeon told me that they couldn't guarantee I wouldn't lose it, but that they were confident they could save it.''
He also had skin grafts and skin flap surgery, whereby tissue is lifted from a donor site and moved to a recipient site with an intact blood supply.
Dack praised the team at John Hunter saying they did 'an amazing job.'
He's back home but has to travel to Newcastle once a week to see a specialist while he's also started physio. The next time he goes under the knife will be to remove the wires and the plate.
"I'm the new man of steel at the moment,'' he jokes.
Eventually he hopes to regain full use of the hand and while early signs are promising, he concedes it's not a given.
However, he's determined to recover in time to play cricket for Taree West next summer.
"It's probably not realistic, but it's something for me to aim for,'' he said.
He opened the batting for Taree West first grade last season.
"I didn't make my first grade debut until I was 48. It took a long time for them to realise my potential,'' Dack added with a grin.
Three of his four sons play for Taree West, while the eldest, Jeremy is a former club junior now at Parramatta.
He's also had injury problems and missed a chunk of last season because of stress fractures in his back.
"We're a family of crocks,'' Dack laughs.
Dack's prepared the wickets at the Martin Oval for the past two years after inheriting the job from Chris Dempsey and Paul Cox.
His efforts have drawn praise from Manning Cricket Association, particularly for the pitches he presented for inter-district games. While returning to cricket is one thing, going back to working on a wicket in the future is another.
"I wouldn't mind but I don't think my wife will be too keen,'' he said, again managing a smile.
Dack is remarkably upbeat about his accident and injuries.
He puts this down to his strong Christian faith.
"It's all in God's plan,'' he said. "There's nothing I can do about it.''