Stamford man run over by excavator comes home from hospital 2 weeks early

A Stamford man crushed by an excavator in his yard less than a month ago says he's well on the road to walking again, thanks to Stamford first responders and his physical therapists.

"I knew I was dying. And all I was thinking is, ‘God, please just don't let my kids find me here,’” said Martin Gibek.

Gibek has gratitude and more for the first responders he says saved his life.

The June 10 accident left Gibek with a fractured pelvis. He says staff at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in Wallingford got him back on the right track.

"He was very motivated right from the get-go to do as much as we could. Sometimes we had to slow him down a little bit for safety's sake,” said his doctor.

Gibek blew away his doctors' expectations by mastering his wheelchair and getting himself back home two weeks early.

"They gave me a date of July 16, and I laughed at them. I said, ‘No, July 4, I'm home,’" Gibek said.

At home, the support kept rolling in - from a custom ramp built by his father to thousands of dollars in donations from strangers.

Gibek is planning to pay the kindness forward and is urging others to do the same.

"Pick a person from GoFundMe. Do a little research, because there's a lot of people that are in need,” he said.

Gibek's doctors say it will be weeks or months before he's ready to leave the wheelchair behind. Gibek says he's planning to surprise them yet again.

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