Falls from ladders are a major cause of workplace injuries. Here’s how an Ontario man came back from a head injury

When Mark Foster first picked himself up from the ground after falling down a ladder at a workplace six years ago, he thought the least he could do was be a little sore for a few days.

Although he had hit his head after falling from a height of four metres, the then 44-year-old from Ingersoll, Ontario initially had no reason to believe he had suffered an injury that would soon have life-changing consequences.

“I didn’t lose consciousness or anything,” he told CBC News. “I got up and I brushed myself off. I put the ladder back up – back to work.”

Ladder-related accidents remain a significant cause of workplace injuries in Canada.

What do the statistics say about falls from height?

Last year in Ontario alone, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) reported 242 injury claims related to ladder accidents and injuries. This heals one injury on every working day of the month. On average, those injuries resulted in an average of 29 work days lost per person.

Those figures only include injuries that resulted in a WSIB claim; They do not account for ladder injuries and deaths that occur at home.

Public Health Ontario included falls from scaffolding and/or ladders in its emergency room visit statistics from 2019, the same year Foster was injured.

Those falls resulted in 20 deaths, 88,000 emergency department visits and 1,024 hospitalizations.

At the time of his injury, Foster, a master electrician who was also trained to work on industrial refrigeration systems, was installing metal electrical conduit in the ceiling of a commercial building in Paris, Ontario.

This was a standard task for the experienced contractor, who often traveled to the Quebec border and Thunder Bay for the highly specialized technical work of installing air-handling systems in commercial and residential buildings.

That day, Foster had completed the installation and packed his equipment to go home when a co-worker noticed that Foster was not looking well.

“He said there was something strange and faint about me,” Foster said. “I told him what happened and how far I fell, and he said, ‘Maybe there’s nothing wrong, but let’s take you to the hospital to make sure.'”

Problems increased after release from hospital

During that hospital visit, a CT scan revealed a cavernoma in his brain. An abnormal group of thin-walled blood vessels. Some people with cavernomas live normal, healthy lives, unaware that they have the disease. Foster’s cavernoma was not related to the fall, although it would become significant in the weeks and months following the injury.

He was discharged from the hospital feeling fine and with instructions to see a specialist. In the days following his injury, Foster began experiencing headaches, dizziness, and brain fog.

Seven days after the fall, Foster got out of his morning shower and his legs became unstable and he suddenly became unable to speak clearly.

“I was basically gibberish,” he said, “and I went downhill from there.”

His wife Sonia called 911 and Foster was eventually taken to University Hospital of London by Orange Air Ambulance.

She was told that she had suffered a stroke due to swelling in the brain caused by a head injury.

I had to learn to speak again. I couldn’t even say a word.– Mark Foster

Foster’s condition stabilized and he spent two months in the hospital recovering. He was back home by Christmas, having to learn to walk and talk again. He had extensive paralysis on the right side of his body.

After a few weeks Sonia, who was overseeing Mark’s care, noticed that he was not improving, but was actually getting worse.

He returned to the hospital and was told that the swelling in the brain had returned. Doctors decided that the golf ball-sized cavernoma was in the way of his recovery and that it would have to be removed.

Originally surgeons had planned to go through his skull to remove the cavernoma, but that plan had to be changed during the procedure. Ultimately they went under her jaw, causing the planned four-hour surgery to drag into 10 hours.

In the years since, he has received up to 30 hours a week of physio and speech therapy as well as treatment for depression, which is common in head injury patients.

“I had to learn to speak again,” Foster said. “I couldn’t even say a word.”

Today Foster is able to walk and talk again, but he continues to have extensive paralysis on his right side. Raising your hand even for a second requires tremendous effort. If he wants to use his right hand to hold an object, he has to use the fingers of his left hand to open the fingers of his right hand.

It’s something I have to do. I have to find the strength and energy to have enough motivation to make recovery.– Mark Foster

Now, he can go for short walks and his speech has returned, although Foster sometimes has to pause in mid-sentence to remember the right word and complete his thought. Overall, he estimates he is about halfway back to where he was before the injury.

Sonia stressed that recovery is much more than this.

“He’s really hard on himself,” she said. “Sometimes I have to remind him: ‘You couldn’t do this even a month ago.'”

Mark is also trying different therapies for his recovery, including Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator ,PONS). This system uses an electronic device placed on the tongue to send electrical waves to the brain during rehabilitation exercises to promote healing by helping the brain rebuild nerve connections.,

Foster plans to return to work eventually. He may no longer be able to climb a ladder or use a screw gun to add gutters to a roof, but he hopes to use his experience to teach apprentices or manage construction projects.

Foster said no one was to blame for his injury. There is no lawsuit. Foster said he and his employer were working safely that day. His injury was merely the result of a mistake at a crucial moment.

Part of his motivation for telling his story is to remind others in the business to take precautions at work, and to remind that even a simple task should be done with safety in mind.

For anyone else trying to recover from a stroke or head injury, Foster’s advice is simple: Don’t give up, and be patient.

“As long as you’re fighting to bounce back, you can make real progress,” he said. “It’s just going to take time. The sky’s the limit.”