Italian engineer Alberto Zaffaroni spends a lot of time in hospitals because of his work, but he is very grateful for the two months he spent at Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH) almost two years ago — and the Taiwanese surgeons and hospital staff who saved his life.
Zaffaroni, 47, who job entails installing sophisticated medical equipment in hospitals, was working in Guanyin Township (觀音), Taoyuan County, on June 15, 2007, putting in a 50m-long piece of machinery, when a 317.5kg, 5m-tall metal poll collapsed, striking him and a colleague.
Hit squarely on the head, Zaffaroni suffered a severe skull fracture, facial trauma and lost consciousness.
He was first taken to Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou Township (林口), Taipei County, before being transferred to TMUH, thanks to a contact between his employer and university hospital superintendent Wu Chih-hsiung (吳志雄).
The Italian spent seven weeks at TMUH and underwent two major surgeries.
“When I first saw him, his skull was damaged and his face was twisted. You could say it was difficult to tell that it was a human face,” said Chiang Yung-hsiao (蔣永孝), director of the hospital’s neurosurgery department.
Zaffaroni first underwent five hours of reconstructive surgery on June 30.
Chiang said plastic surgeons removed some of Zaffaroni’s stomach muscle and tissue to replace the damaged tissue on his head.
“This is what we often do when the patient’s face and skull are seriously damaged,” he said.
TMUH president Wu Chih-hsiung (吳志雄) said the greatest challenge for Zaffaroni’s doctors was that he was leaking 100cc of cerebrospinal fluid a day.
“When it [the spinal fluid] was coming out from Zaffaroni’s nose, it meant that there was an open tunnel where germs could have entered his brain and killed him,” Wu said.
On July 19, Zaffaroni underwent 11 hours of neurosurgery to stop the leakage.
Wu and Chiang said they were surprised when they heard the first thing Zaffaroni said when he woke up was he wanted some cabbage dumplings.
“I had no idea why I would say that,” Zaffaroni said earlier this month.
“I just said it because I ate that kind of dumplings before and I really loved them. After I woke up from the surgery, I felt so hungry and I could use some cabbage dumplings,” he said.
He returned home to Milan on Aug. 15, where he underwent six months of rehabilitation therapy.
His doctors there told him there were only two or three surgeons in Italy who were capable of performing the kind of surgery he underwent in Taiwan.
Zaffaroni returned to work after his recovery and has continued to travel the world for work.
One thing he was no longer able to do after the accident was scuba diving. He was told not to dive again because his skull may not be able to take the water pressure.
He can still jog, however and he completed the 42km 2008 Firenze Marathon in Florence on Nov. 30 last year.
Zaffaroni was back in Taiwan earlier this month to thank the surgeons and medical staff who saved his life.
As a show of gratitude, he presented them with the certificate he received for completing the Firenze Marathon.
“Taiwan is my second home. People here care for me very much,” Zaffaroni said.
“If I were anywhere else, I am afraid I could not receive such care,” he said.
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