A man who was out driving during the worst part of a winter storm late Tuesday night is lucky to be alive.
Police said his pickup truck veered off Interstate 35 just north of Huxley. A metal post from a road sign or fence impaled the driver.
It's not unusual for a pickup to end up in a ditch on a snowy night, but Trooper Tyson Underwood was shocked by what he saw when he flashed his light inside.
"Once I arrived on scene, I did notice a fence post impaled in the man from the left side to the right groin area," said Underwood.
Rescue crews cut the post that pinned 26-year-old Adam McVicker, but did not remove the piece protruding from his body as they rushed him to Iowa Methodist Medical Center.
McVicker had been on his cell phone with his identical twin brother's wife when he crashed. The force of the post impaling him also pulled his headphones inside his abdomen.
Adam's brother, Aaron McVicker, said doctors removed a rod of galvanized steel:
"The surgeon showed us what it looked like when they pulled it out of his body," said McVicker.
The post is 3 feet long and 3 inches wide, and it weighed more than 11 pounds. Amazingly, the metal ripped through muscle, just missing vital organs by a fraction of an inch.
"The liver, the colon, the bladder, all the crucial parts. A few more inches, it would have been more devastating than it was," said Aaron McVicker.
Adam McVicker had recently been laid off and had just enrolled in Kaplan University to start a new life.
"The best thing about it, he will recover, and be able to follow those dreams," said Aaron McVicker. "I think he's got a huge appreciation for life right now."
Adam McVicker is now listed in serious condition. His brother said he'll come out of this with a huge battle scar, but doctors expect that he'll be fine eventually with no major internal injuries.