Steven Gray was about 40-feet high on a tree in Madison when his chainsaw slipped and ripped open his stomach earlier this month. As blood poured out and his intestines protruded from his abdomen, his boss Gary Vandiver, and a ground worker Zoya Higgins, leapt into action to save his life. Steven Gray remained calm and alert, determined to survive the gruesome ordeal.

“All I kept thinking about was my baby girl and how I wasn’t going to let this take me out,” said Gray, a lifelong Madison resident and a single-dad of a four-year-old daughter.

Gary Vandiver, of Rutledge, recognized the severity of the situation and the possibility of Gray bleeding out before emergency rescuers could arrive at the scene.

“I knew right away time was critical,” said Vandiver. “After I called 911 and repeate

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