Avoiding tragedy

DODGEVILLE, Wis. — Every year, the U.S. recognizes National Farm Safety and Health Week the third week of September. It is an important reminder for those who work in agriculture that farming is dangerous work.

Seven years ago, the Dolan family was reminded just how dangerous farming can be. Ryan and Krista Dolan milk 260 cows on their farm near Dodgeville.

In 2017, their son, Kaleb Dolan, who was 9 years old at the time, decided to grab his father’s sweatshirt before helping unload a chopper box on a chilly August morning. After the chopper box was empty, he reached up to shut off the beaters, and the power take-off grabbed the body of his father’s sweatshirt and pulled him in.

Before he knew it, he was lying on the ground in pain. Neither Kaleb, nor the hired help that pulled him out know how many rotations he went around, but the damage was done.

“I didn’t have time to realize what was happening,” Kaleb said. “I was just in it and didn’t know what happened until I was lying on the ground.”

Thankfully, Kaleb was working closely with the Dolan’s hired hand at the time his mom said.

“Our hired hand was able to shut off the tractor, get him out and call 911,” she said. “When Deputy Peterson arrived, he said it was dispatched for an adult and not a child, so he was able to get Med Flight involved.”

Deputy Mike Peterson and an ambulance crew were first on the scene. The Med Flight arrived shortly after, landing in the middle of County Road ZZ in Iowa County. The emergency medical services crew from the ambulance loaded him into the helicopter and what normally would have been a 45-minute drive, was a 12-minute flight to the UW Health American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison.

“I knew it was bad, but when the deputy said he was calling in the Med Flight, I knew it was really bad,” Krista said. “When there’s an accident, you expect it to be bad. I knew his arm and leg were broken, but there wasn’t blood everywhere. Now I know that that isn’t a good sign either.”

Kaleb’s injuries included three broken bones in his right arm, a broken femur, broken ribs, a punctured lung, a bruised liver, a bruised lung, an adrenal hemorrhage and road-rash scars along his stomach and back. The scars are still visible today.

Kaleb was put in the intensive care unit for a day and a half and spent a total of 10 days in the hospital. After being released, he was non-weight-bearing for the next eight weeks.

Even with the accident, Kaleb’s passion for farming shone through. While in the hospital, one of his requests to his mother was to bring in his New Holland Genesis poster so he had a touch of home with him.

“One of the first things he asked me after his surgery was about showing his heifers,” Krista said. “It was the first year he was going to show at the Iowa County Fair. There were a lot of people who helped make that possible. We found a motorized wheelchair and he showed his heifers at the fair.”

A little over a month after his accident he was at the fair.

“He had no apprehension about coming back to the farm,” Krista said. “As soon as we got him home, he was asking us to wheel him down to the barn. Every day he had us wheel him down so he could sit in the shop and make sure it was all running smoothly.”

Kaleb then started physical therapy to relearn how to walk. He began fourth grade in a wheelchair.

“I took him to physical therapy the day they were going to tell him he was done with the wheelchair,” Krista said. “He progressed to the point where he could use a walker at school, and at first he was like, ‘I’m not a grandpa,’ but when we pulled up to his school, his class was so excited to see him walk by himself again.”

Kaleb made a full recovery from his injuries from the accident. His child-sized wheelchair and walker have been lent to others in the area.

Lending the wheelchair and walker is not the only way they have tried to pay it forward. Krista, president of the Iowa County Farm Bureau, and the Iowa County 4-H extension have launched the annual Iowa County Safety Day. It is the first event of its kind in Iowa County in roughly 25 years.

The event has been held for the past two years, bringing fifth graders from the Dodgeville school district to the fairgrounds to learn more about safety on and off the farm. This year, 220 students from six schools attended.

Stations are set up for animal safety, weather safety, chemical safety, tick safety and utility task vehicle and all-terrain vehicle safety. Med Flight and Alliant Energy also make presentations. New this year was boat safety presented by the Department of Natural Resources.

Both Kaleb and Krista have learned lessons along their journey.

“Pay attention to what you’re doing,” Kaleb said. “Don’t be lazy. Take the extra step to make sure you’re being safe. Tuck your shirt in and wear the right-sized clothes.”

His mom agreed.

“Slow down,” Krista said. “That’s the biggest thing I can say about how it all happened. Slow down, fix what needs to be fixed and don’t wait.”