SPORTS: Port Angeles’ Trussell broken but not beaten after bulldozer incident

EDITOR’S NOTE: Parker Smith is the father of Nate Smith, not Rick Smith.

Both Nate and Rick were members of the 2000 Port Angeles High School boys soccer team.

PORT ANGELES — Almost whole again, Kyle Trussell hopes to walk unaided Saturday on the same cushioned artificial turf field he competed on last summer.

Known for introducing the acrobatic backflip throw-in to area fields as a youth and high school soccer player, Trussell will never take locomotion lightly again.

Not after what he’s been through in the aftermath of being nearly crushed to death by a 36,000-pound Caterpillar D-6 bulldozer in a Sept. 28 workplace incident.

Trussell, 33, is the Man of Honor and will receive donations for medical expenses at the Port Angeles-Sequim Super Cup rivalry soccer match at Peninsula College’s Wally Sigmar Field at 5 p.m. Saturday.

“I walked on the waterfront [Olympic Discovery] trail the other day for the first time [since he was injured] and was using a cane instead of a walker,” Trussell, who played in the inaugural edition of the area soccer derby last year, said.

“My plan is to make an appearance without any cane, without a walker.”

“I hope they have a jersey for me. I’d like to walk out with Port Angeles when the teams are introduced and be part of the first kick at midfield.”

Cane or no, the mere fact that Trussell is upright and getting his mobility back a little bit at a time, let alone alive, is difficult to comprehend.

People aren’t built with the physical capacity to survive being run over by an enormous piece of industrial machinery.

That Trussell, a land surveyor who was severely injured while working on the landfill bluff stabilization project near the Port Angeles Regional Transfer Station, lived through the incident is the stuff of miracles.

Soccer ‘legend’

At the very least, Trussell’s travails add to the back story of a true “Port Angeles soccer legend,” as the headline read on goalWA, a soccer-devoted website, the week after he was injured.

Trussell’s left ankle had an open fracture, his right femur was snapped, he suffered broken tibias and fibulas, his right leg was nearly wrenched off his body at the hip, five lumbar vertebrae were broken and his pelvis was crushed.

Not to mention the damage it has done to his excretory systems and the 17 pints of blood transfusions he underwent in the immediate aftermath of the event.

Trussell was airlifted to Harborview’s trauma unit in Seattle, where he was placed on life support until he regained consciousness on Oct. 9.

“I got off life support and checked my Facebook for the first time and I was overwhelmed,” Trussell said.

“There were hundreds of messages and every single Port Angeles city league team had posted ‘a Get Well Trussell’ video.

“I had so many people come and visit me and offer me support in the hospital I lost count.”

Trussell’s longtime youth soccer coach Jeff Pitman, who also coached him at Peninsula College, remembers the early days of Trussell’s recovery.

“You almost needed a ticket to get into his room there were so many people waiting to see him and wish him well,” Pitman said.

He remained at Harborview an additional four weeks for surgeries and recovery, before coming home for an extended rehabilitation stint at Crestwood Convalescent Center.

A GoFundMe account opened by family members while he was on life support collected more than $13,000 to cover medical expenses, but Trussell felt some guilt when he learned of its existence.

“I was looking through all the notes people left me and I saw a donation from Beth Barrett, a girl I’ve known forever who has some young kids,” Trussell said.

“And she wrote they were donating their tooth fairy money. That blew me away. I just felt like I was OK. I didn’t want to take their tooth fairy money. I felt bad about that.”

He’s now home, tended to by his girlfriend Opal Anderson, who’s served as the ever-present corner woman in Trussell’s fight for his life.

And he’s visited often by a host of friends in the North Olympic Peninsula soccer community, including Pitman who visits Trussell every day.

Other stalwarts are Sequim High School coach Dave Brasher and Parker Smith, the father of Trussell’s longtime teammate Nate Smith.

Indescribable nature

Adjectives such as irrepressible and effusive can only go so far to describe Trussell.

One gets the sense he would have been a handful in a high school classroom, sincere and no real trouble, but quick to offer a quip that could send his classmates into fits of laughter — a teacher tormentor.

“It’s true. I’d say he’s one of those guys that’s just larger than life,” Brasher said.

“He’s always been quick on his feet, so it’s thoroughly ironic that what got him was a slow-moving bulldozer,” Brasher joked.

“The other amazing thing about him is he knows a million people, but he’s a really good listener.

“Kyle’s always been memorable himself, too, somebody you would never forget when you talk to him.”

Pitman also pointed to Trussell’s gale-force personality.

“He’s got such an infectious personality, really, the best kind of infection if you are going to have to have one,” Pitman said with a laugh.

“Whatever he says it’s the truth. He will tell you the truth every time, even if its painful to hear.

“And he keeps such a sense of humor about himself.

“Most people would have never survived this, and I think it’s a testament to Kyle being in really good shape from continuing to play soccer and his attitude.”

“I think a lot of people would have just given up and died.”

The beautiful game

Soccer has been a mainstay in Trussell’s life since he first booted a ball at the age of 4.

He was a team member of Storm King Image, the first select, club-level competitive soccer program on the North Olympic Peninsula.

Those Image players were the backbone of the Port Angeles High School boys soccer team’s run to the Class 4A state soccer championship game in 2000.

Trussell, a junior, played in midfield for the Roughriders (19-0-1), who fell on a weak goal in a 1-0 loss to Snohomish in the state title game.

“Kyle is the type of player who would pull off bicycle kicks at midfield to save balls,” Pitman, whose son Justin also played on the team, said.

“That’s a non-threatening area where you really don’t have to go all-out to save possession. But that’s Kyle.

“One time he did that and he came down and knocked himself out with a concussion.

“I’ve visited him in the hospital three or four different times for different injuries before this ever happened.”

Trussell kept playing soccer, suiting up for Pitman at Peninsula College until a ligament injury in his leg cut his college career short.

“I saw [Peninsula College Athletic Director] Rick Ross at the practice area at [Cedars at] Dungeness golf course the other day and told him he needs to keep a scholarship open for me,” Trussell said.

“I’ve still got eligibility left.”

Trussell also played in tournaments around Puget Sound and Canada, making friends from countless countries — all for the love of soccer.

A longtime staple of the Port Angeles Parks and Recreation leagues and the Sequim eight-man indoor league, Trussell has a name for his style of play.

“I call myself a Clint Dempsey (referring to the U.S. National team standout and Seattle Sounders midfielder),” Trussell said.

“I’m a withdrawn forward, or a lazy center midfielder because I don’t do defense.”

Trussell isn’t cleared to do anything more strenuous than chip or putt a golf ball, but he’s eagerly anticipating beginning a rehab program in the coming weeks.

Much of his energy has been spent consumed in bureaucratic battles with the state Department of Labor and Industries and his insurance provider.

“It’s a cumbersome process,” Trussell said.

“I understand a lot of people are abusing the system but I didn’t get run over by a bulldozer to abuse the system.”

While he deals with the government and the insurance company, a second GoFundMe account for Trussell was opened at www.gofundme.com/urjwfqx8.

When the department declined to fund the purchase of a combination recumbent bike/elipitical machine, Pitman, Brasher and Smith chipped in and purchased one for him.

He’s yet to use it, but said he can’t wait to get back to working out.

Trussell was floored when Port Angeles Super Cup commissioner Tim Tucker said Saturday’s rivalry game would be played in his honor.

“I was overwhelmed with emotion,” Trussell said.

“I couldn’t hold my tears back.”

Trussell is looking forward to the intensity and seeing all his soccer friends at Saturday’s game.

“I went to one city league game for my team when I was in a wheelchair while I was at Crestwood and I never went up there again because it was just too hard. I couldn’t handle it at the time,” Trussell said.

“But I’m ready now. I want to see everybody and I want them to see how good I’m doing,” he said.

“I’m really looking forward to being around the guys.”

Pitman marvels at his growth.

“He’s shown so much perseverance and handled everything so well,” Pitman said.

“He was a good person before, but he’s grown so much. And a lot of that comes from his girlfriend, Opal Anderson, the most supportive person maybe on Earth.

“He’s happy with the way things are turning out right now, he sees a great future for himself.”

Ready to fight

Pitman asked Trussell a difficult question recently.

“I was asked the other day if I could take it [the incident] and all I’ve gone through back, and my answer is no,” Trussell said.

“And that’s because how often do you get to prove to yourself what you are made of and if you can overcome something like this?

“Not that I ever really wanted to, but I had to.”

In shock in the immediate aftermath of the incident, Trussell, lying face down on the earth tried to get in the push-up position to lift himself off the ground.

His attempts, thankfully, were restrained by Jeff Gladish, another bulldozer operator who saw the incident occur.

But the effort to rise to his feet lingers in Trussell’s memory.

“I look at it like I had two choices: lay there and die or fight and get whatever I can out of life,” Trussell said.

“And I’m a fighter.”

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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.