Steve Johnson, holds the cup high after coaching the Pigeons to a premiership flag in 2023.
Photo by
Les_Garbutt
Yarrawonga football coach Steve Johnson is recuperating at his home in Wangaratta after being discharged from Wangaratta Base Hospital last Wednesday.
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The three-time Geelong premiership star spent over three days in hospital following a freak and serious accident when opening the front gate of his property at about 5.00pm on January 22.
Johnson suffered a deep wound to his stomach opening his front gate after getting out of the car with wife Erin and their three children.
A meat knife he had inside a bag he was carrying pierced its cover and bag, and stabbed him in the abdomen. It was a knife used to cut 12-year-old Archie’s birthday cake.
Steve Johnson posted a picture from hospital showing his injuries after stabbing himself with a knife. Picture: Instagram.
Johnson, 40, had been saved by a nurse out walking his dog, who applied pressure to the wound, before he was taken to hospital for emergency surgery on his abdomen and bowel.
“It was just really freakish how it happened,” Johnson told the Herald Sun.
“We were going inside the house, but my little girl couldn’t open the gate, so I held on to one bag and pushed against it [to open the gate] but the knife was in that bag.
“It just went straight into me. At the same time, it just so happened this couple was walking past out front, and one was a nurse.
“I’ve yelled out: ‘Quick, Erin, jump in the car and take me to the hospital’. I said: ‘The knife has gone through my stomach’.
“That’s when the bloke said to me: ‘I’m a nurse, let me come and help’, and he got a towel and said we need to put as much pressure on it as we can.
“He took me to hospital and called them on the way, and they knew who he was, and he explained everything. He said it was a severe injury, and I’d need surgery immediately.”
In a separate interview with the Herald Sun, Johnson said: “It was the first time where it crosses your mind or been in that mindset: ‘I might be dying here.’
“Before going into surgery I was thinking ‘I hope I wake up.’
“I’m just so incredibly grateful the nurse, Jason, was there, and had that calm mind, and happened to be walking past our house because it’s a very quiet street and it’s unusual to see someone walking past.″
A statement from Yarrawonga Football Netball Club read: “The YFNC would like to wish our senior coach, Steve Johnson a quick and full recovery from his accident on Monday night.
“As you may be aware, Steve suffered a nasty stomach wound in a freak accident.
“He has been treated at the Wangaratta Hospital and like all things, time will heal.”
Johnson has appreciated the many messages of support from friends and the football netball world.
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