Shot Through the Heart: Man Survives Shooting Himself In Chest With Nail Gun

Transcript

Event Location(s): Vineland, New Jersey, United States, New York City, New York, United States | Description: Setting up the segment live in Studio 1A, Lester Holt holds up a four inch nail (shots of Holt holding the nail are seen throughout). Dennis Hennis (who survived accidentally shooting himself in the heart with a nail gun) and Cooper University Hospital’s Dr. Raymond Green join Holt in two-way live remote from Vineland, New Jersey. LESTER HOLT: Dr. Green, Dennis, good morning to both of you. Good to have you here. Dr. RAYMOND GREEN: Good morning. Thanks for having us. Mr. DENNIS HENNIS: Thank you. Good morning. HOLT: Dennis, you've worked with nail guns a lot. You've had them jam before. What went wrong this time? Mr. HENNIS: Well, of--nothing that--nothing any different. They jam often--(clearing his throat) excuse me. But for some reason this time it was difficult to unjam and didn't use the safety procedures I should have, and it got me, it bit me. HOLT: It got you. It more than bit you. What did it feel like to have that four-inch nail going inside you? Mr. HENNIS: It didn't really hurt. It was like pressure was building though. You can tell something's wrong and... HOLT: And I understand you hung on to the nail after it went in. You hung on to it and that might have saved your life. What compelled you to hold onto it and keep it in your grip? Mr. HENNIS: Well, it's like the--I didn't want it to move. So I'm trying to hold my chest from moving in and out. And I didn't want to make any more damage. And it's like having a hole plugged up. Leave it in there. HOLT: Yeah. Mr. HENNIS: And that was good. HOLT: And I know at three times you went into cardiac arrest and they had to perform CPR. And, Dr. Green, let me ask you about that. Obviously you need the CPR to get his heart going again, but didn't that drive the nail even deeper? Dr. GREEN: There's a high certainty that that is the case. If not deeper, it certainly superficially made the hole larger so that the hole we had to work with later was, instead of the size of the nail itself, much larger. HOLT: And it pierced, I think, the right ventricle. That's what—that supplies blood to the lung. How were you able to repair it? Dr. GREEN: We repaired it primarily using just suture material just as we would do with any other planned operation. We had to divide his sternum in order to get there. So he actually--luckily for him he had held the nail in place and for the most part it was still in the same position. We were able to take the nail out later and then repair the hole primarily after opening that breastplate. HOLT: And what's the prognosis for Dennis going forward? Is he at risk of heart problems in the future? Dr. GREEN: Not necessarily. This really doesn't change a whole lot for him overall. He certainly won't be going back to work any time very soon, but I suspect within the next three to six months he should be back on the job. HOLT: Dennis, one word for you, "hammer." Mr. HENNIS: Yeah, that's the old-fashioned way. HOLT: Yeah. You might get a sore thumb, but better than what you went through. Mr. HENNIS: Yeah. HOLT: Listen, we're--all joking aside, we're glad you're well. Thanks for coming on, Dennis Hennis, and sharing your story with us. Dr. Raymond Green, as well, we appreciate you being here. Dr. GREEN: Thank you very much. Mr. HENNIS: Thank you. HOLT: All right.