Dr. Peter Millett, orthopedic shoulder surgeon and Director of Shoulder Surgery for The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, has seen it all…or so he thought. As a complex shoulder surgeon, he has operated on some of the toughest cases from patients who’ve suffered trauma from injuries sustained during high-impact sports, serious accidents, and everyday mishaps. But when Larry Trotter entered the doors of the Clinic in early July, Dr. Millett knew this was a case like no other.
Larry Trotter, a 58-year old Vail local, set out for a 25-day African Safari hunt that lasted a mere minutes when he was viciously attacked by a cape buffalo. The Vail Daily depicts the attack in a detailed way that will leave readers on the edge of their seats, but what is most astonishing, is that Larry survived at all. More than 200 hunters each year are killed by cape buffalo, each averaging a weight of 1,000 pounds.
Aside from a myriad of cuts, bruising, and other injuries, the buffalo shattered Larry’s shoulder. After several of the guides who were on the trip with Larry shot the buffalo, killing him, they gathered Larry and got him to the emergency room in Capetown where some of the best surgeons there reconstructed his shoulder in a four-hour surgery.
After landing an emergency seat on a flight back to the U.S., upon landing back in Vail, he immediately was taken to the Steadman Clinic and into the doors of Dr. Peter Millett.
“Larry’s story of survival is captivating. A miracle to say the least. The attack left him with a fracture dislocation to his left shoulder. In order to correct and rebuild his shoulder, we had to essentially re-do what was done in South Africa because it didn’t hold up and the bones had shifted. We took out the plates that had been placed, and then using x-ray guidance, we put the pieces back together. We then re-aligned all the bones, repaired the rotator cuff, and put in a series of new plates and screws to hold it in place. The bones were so crushed that we also had to rebuild the bone with synthetic bone to provide strength while it heals.”
Larry is still in the rehabilitation phase from his surgery but is expected to make a great recovery. According to Larry, “It’s an absolute, for a fact, true miracle.”
To read the full story: A miracle among us; Local man survives African cape buffalo attack
(**Photo as shown in the Vail Daily: Larry Trotter managed to smile, briefly, after surviving an attack by this cape buffalo. Two hunting guides are helping hold him up for the photo. He left immediately for hospitals in Africa, then here at the Steadman Clinic for surgery)
