CLARKESVILLE - A Habersham County man's brush with death earlier this year while cutting trees near his home is featured in a Reader's Digest story titled "A Very Dangerous Day."
Kevin Carstens of Clarkesville, who was injured in January in a tree-cutting accident, said Monday he was surprised when the magazine called.
Carstens says he has fully recovered from the accident which resulted in a large steel hook attached to a rope he was using becoming lodged in his throat, with the tension in the rope pinning him to a tree. The hook, he says, missed any major arteries or blood vessels as well as his larynx, lodging at the base of his neck.
He says he was "angry and scared" and running out of options when he thought of the knife he had in his pocket which he used to cut the rope, freeing himself. Carstens says he then used his cell phone to call his wife, telling her he needed help and to call 911. He also called 911 himself.
Soon, paramedics arrived and after assessing the situation, call for a helicopter ambulance which took Carstens to an Atlanta area hospital.
Carstens says he's still cutting trees, but with some changes in how he goes about it. He says he's not as apt to use ropes, "now I tend to just cut one and let it fall."
He says he credits his "guardian angel" with saving him.
Carstens' story is in the November edition of Reader's Digest.
Sunday
June 29th, 2025
10:13PM
