Metro-east man home for Thanksgiving after being impaled by metal pole
.png "An X-ray image shows where John Davis, of Nashville, Ill., was impaled by a pole in a mid-November accident. He is now home recovering.")
Less than a week after a DIY-project left him impaled by a metal pole, a 45-year-old father and grandfather from Nashville, Illinois, returned home from the hospital Saturday.
“He was hellbent to be home by Thanksgiving,” John Davis’ wife, Tammy Davis, said. “And he did it.”
While John is now home, he still faces a long road to recovery, Tammy said — as is to be expected with seven broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
John, who declined to be interviewed, and Tammy set out to collect tin from an old barn roof in wooded southern Illinois on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 16. John was on a ladder when it became unsteady and he fell onto a pole sticking out of the ground.
The pole entered John’s right side under his shoulder and stopped just shy of exiting through his neck. He was trapped.
“It was the freakiest thing I ever saw in my life,” Tammy said.
Tammy called 911, and nearby family members came out to help guide rescue workers from both Randolph and Washington Counties to John’s location. First responders cut the pole to free John, and a life-flight helicopter then transported him to SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. He underwent emergency surgery to remove the rest of the pole from his body.
Tammy said she is surprised by how much attention and community support the accident has attracted. She said she fielded calls from multiple news outlets, including one in Australia.
“I guess it garners attention when you say somebody was impaled, because people don’t often come back from that,” Tammy said.
To help with the many expenses the Davises face — including surgery costs, hospital bills, rehabilitation, medication and paying bills while John cannot work and Tammy stays home to care for him — their daughter Christine James set up a GoFundMe page, as well as Venmo, CashApp and PayPal accounts.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the GoFundMe had raised roughly $3,500 of its $15,000 goal. Tammy said she also appreciates all the prayers and “good vibes” being sent to the family.
“You’re never ready for something like this,” Davis said. “I never thought that I’d be in a position where I would need crowdfunding … (I feel) immeasurable gratitude. I don’t think I can say ‘thank you’ enough.”
There’s an old saying: “The good you do comes back to you.” That’s what’s going on in John’s case, Tammy said. She gave multiple examples of John helping neighbors and his children fix their cars. The GoFundMe description calls John “one of the hardest-working, most loyal and most selfless men you will ever meet.”
James bolded the words “most selfless.”
“He would help anybody,” Tammy said. “And to see that (support), it’s coming back to him.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2025 at 5:30 AM.