THUNDER BAY — He came close to losing his life in an industrial accident 15 years ago, but Dan Plexman has moved on from that near-death experience to become a champion athlete and speaker on workplace safety.
On Sept. 30, 2008, while working alone at a jobsite in the Red Lake area, Plexman was operating an aerial lift that came too close to live power lines, causing an electrical arc flash fire.
"I received third- to-sixth-degree burns to 60 per cent of my body... I was on fire in the man-lift, and I jumped out of the machine, but I was attached by my safety harness, and I hung there on fire for a few minutes until the nylon lifeline burned completely through and I fell about 17 feet to the ground," the Thunder Bay man recounted in an interview Tuesday with TBnewswatch.
In the burn unit of the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, doctors put him into a coma for eleven days, and told his family he had a 13 per cent chance of surviving.
They also warned that if he did survive, they would likely have to amputate both his arms above the shoulders.
Although he managed to pull through, years of surgeries, other medical procedures and therapy followed, including treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
But fourteen years to the day after his accident — on Sept. 30, 2022 — Plexman won two gold medals in the standing men's disabled (80 kg) class at the International Federation of Armwrestling's world championship in France.
Video of the event is available on YouTube.
He captured one medal using his left arm, and the other using his right arm.
After winning a Canadian national title this summer, he's now preparing for a trip to Malaysia, where he'll try to defend his world titles at the 2023 championships.
It was only in 2019 that Plexman decided to take up armwrestling, but at the time he considered it just another form of physiotherapy.
"I have a lot of issues from the waist up from the burns, and especially to my arms, my hands, my fingers, my wrists, my elbows. The extreme scarring kind of makes them fold in, so I do a lot of physio and I'm constantly stretching," he said.
When he went to a practice with a friend who's a competitive armwrestler, he immediately got hooked on the sport.
"The armwrestling community welcomed me with open arms. The camaraderie, the fellowship, the handshakes and hugs. I never looked back."
Plexman said he was motivated almost immediately to lose weight so that he could compete in a lighter weight category.
He believes his injuries have actually helped him achieve the success he's enjoyed to date.
"I'm very awkward for the other armwrestlers, because of the way my hands have been manipulated from the scar tissue, and the way my elbows are. That's the best way I can describe it."
Now 50 years old, Plexman tells his story of survival at speaking engagements around North America, to let others know they can heal from disasters and experience personal growth.
"Even though my physical injuries have been extensive and extreme, that wasn't the hardest part of this whole journey. It's really the emotional and mental anguish. The PTSD is a real thing, and it affected me a lot. Reaching out to the burn survivor community and the armwrestling community, the Canadian skilled worker community, it's all been a big, big thing for me...It's turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life."
He said "it's kind of weird" to put it that way, given that he was almost burned to death, but noted that it's why he ended up meeting his wife, and it's why he's won a world championship.
"I wouldn't have all these opportunities, and all the people in my life who I do now. It's been life-changing, it really has... I want people to realize there's a lot more to life after a heavy experience like this. We can get through anything."
The other message Plexman strives to deliver is the importance of a safety culture in workplaces to stop preventable accidents.
"I want people to learn from my experience...My message is plan and prepare, prevent and protect. I apply my workplace safety experience to the armwrestling table too. You want to protect yourself, and you want to do that with your teammates, and even with the people you're competing against."
