A CAMPER who fell asleep outside his tent cheated death after falling 120ft down a sheer cliff face.
Steven Hill who shattered 112 bones during the bizarre accident had pitched his tent close to the top of a sheer drop so he could take in the view.
He dozed off after stepping outside his tent to roll a cigarette.
But when he awoke, he stumbled in the disorientating darkness and tumbled over the edge of the huge drop.
“I was conscious the whole way down until impact,” said Steven, 42, of the terrifying plunge at Gallanach, near Oban, Argyll, which left him with a punctured lung, cuts and bruises and severe injuries to his back.
The painter and decorator was unconscious for around four hours.
When he came to, he struggled to stand, and took 40 minutes to crawl to the nearest road where he spent two hours trying to flag down help.
At first he tried to flag down a passing car but said the driver ignored him. He thought two passing cyclists had also ignored him but then overheard them phoning for an ambulance.
Paramedics took him to Lorn and Islands Hospital, Oban, but his injuries were so severe he was quickly airlifted to The Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow.
He spent weeks in hospital and is now recovering at home after doctors fixed his shattered spine using titanium rods, bolts and screws.
Reliving his brush with death, he said: “I’m the luckiest man alive. I had never been in an accident in my life before this. People can’t believe how lucky I was.”
Steven lived in Oban for around 20 years and came to love the cliff at Gallanach.
He often visited the remote spot to clear his head, relax and enjoy the view.
Steven wearing a brace after surgery
Of his most recent, traumatic stay he said: “I fell asleep on the grass. I woke up ratty and was scrabbling around.
“The next thing I knew I had the sensation of increasing velocity.
“I could feel myself brushing against things.”
Doctors were amazed at the number of bones he broke but, despite the injuries to his spine, he didn’t suffer paralysis.
He was fitted with a brace around his torso and a metal cage called a “halo” to support his head while his spine recovers.
Steven said people can’t believe what happened when he tells them.
“I’ve had guys calling me ‘Robocop’ and stuff,” he said.
“I just tell them it’s too sore to laugh.”
Simon Glen, from head injury charity Headway Glasgow, said: “It can take people a long time to recover. It can often be a long road.”Man puts £45,000 ebay bid on a helicopter in failed attempt to prove a point to his girlfriend – click here to read more
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