OCALA, Fla. – A popular local Santa Claus is thanking doctors and nurses who helped him get back on his feet after a fall from a ladder nearly left him paralyzed.
The Santa, who’s also known as Scott Jacob, visited HCA Florida Ocala Hospital Monday, which is where he received treatment for the traumatic injury.
“I landed square on my tailbone and the ladder came over with me,” Jacob said. “I couldn’t move for quite awhile.”
In April, Jacob fell from a six-foot ladder while doing work at his Ocala home. He was spotted by a neighbor and was taken to the hospital where he was rushed into a trauma bay for evaluation.
“Thankfully, HCA Florida Hospital is right here in town with their trauma center,” Jacob said. “It was a really good thing.”
Dr. Darwin Ang is the trauma medical director at the hospital and said his team had to act quickly and perform emergency surgery or risk paralysis.
“We needed to intervene right away, because he didn’t just have a regular back fracture,” Ang said. “He had a back fracture with something called an epidermal hematoma. That’s blood in the canal and that expands. You have to decompress that, otherwise you’ll have permanent neurological injury.”
The next several months were filled with difficult rehab, but Jacob was eventually able to regain his ability to walk without the assistance of a cane.
With the recovery, Jacob said some of his appearances as Santa Claus had to be scaled back this year, but he’s working to get back to 100% and grateful for an opportunity to continue spreading holiday joy.
“The hospital did a good job. They got me back going and I’m joyful,” Jacob said.
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