A man who was left with catastrophic injuries after he came into contact with 4,160 volts of electricity has revealed how he recovered from the devastating incident.
John Pendleton, 36, was working a piece of heavy machinery in 2019 when the electricity surged through his body leaving the former rock miner seriously injured and in a coma for nine days.
The over 4,000 volts entered through the top of Mr Pendleton's head and left out of his neck.
After he woke up from his coma, Mr Pendleton said he had no idea what had happened to him.
'When I woke up, I had no idea what had happened,' John recalls. 'All I knew was that I was in excruciating pain, and everything about me had changed.'
He had suffered third and fourth-degree burns which covered 30 per cent of his upper body, his skull was fractured, and his brain had bled from the trauma.
Mr Pendleton had also lost his right ear and 40 per cent of the left one, permanently altering his appearance.
But the physical pain was just the beginning of his recovery.
Five years on, Mr Pendleton - who lives in South Florida - has become an online sensation, documenting his recovery and advocacy work on TikTok, where his honesty and resilience have gained him thousands of followers.
But his journey to this point has been anything but easy.
After the accident, doctors faced a harrowing decision. Much of his scalp had been destroyed by the electricity, leaving parts of his skull exposed. In an attempt to regenerate tissue, surgeons drilled burr holes into his skull.
'They told me they were hoping my skull would start to regrow tissue on its own.
'And it did but way too slowly. They told me I'd have to stay in the hospital for up to a year,' Mr Pendleton said.
That was when an alternative, far more drastic, option was proposed: taking his lats muscle from his back and grafting it onto his head which he agreed to.
'At that point, I just wanted to get out of the hospital.'
The 12-hour surgery was meant to be life-changing, but nothing could have prepared him for the aftermath. 'My first question before surgery was, "Is my head gonna hurt?" And my doctor said, "No, no, your back is gonna hurt because we're taking the muscle out of it".
'When I woke up, I couldn't even feel my back but my head? It felt like it was stuck in a vice and someone was beating it with a sledgehammer over and over again.'
He then spent over two months in the hospital, enduring unbearable pain.
Despite the best medical interventions, his recovery was riddled with complications. His face had swollen beyond recognition, and even simple movements were impossible.
The mental toll on Mr Pendleton has also been immense as he came to terms with his injuries.
He said: 'I get asked all the time, "What did you look like before the accident?".
'And I get it's human curiosity. I actually had an artist create a picture of me looking at my old self. At first, it was really upsetting. But now, it's one of my favourite pictures.'
He is now at peace with his scars won't ever get them tattooed over.
'I wear them with pride. They tell my story,' he said.
Now Mr Pendleton is completely off all medications and has been sober for nearly ten years.
Determined to rebuild his strength, Mr Pendleton has also returned to the gym. 'I lost so much muscle after the accident. And honestly, when I was on all those meds, I was getting really fat,' he laughs.
'So I got back in the gym, and it's helped me feel normal again.'
But despite the progress, the pain hasn't disappeared. 'I still have severe nerve pain..
'My back, where they took the muscle, burns constantly. The skin grafts on my leg still give me issues. And at night, I get these shooting pains that literally jolt me awake,' he said.
Mr Pendleton also struggles with PTSD, which can be triggered by bright hospital lights or unexpected loud noises.
He has transformed his unimaginable suffering into something positive which sees him travelling the country as a public safety speaker, sharing his story in the hopes of preventing others from experiencing the same fate.
He and his wife, Tiffany, also run the Forgotten Working Class podcast, where they highlight blue-collar workers' struggles and triumphs.
'I know now that this is what I am meant to do. to share my story to help prevent workplace accidents,' He said.
'If I can save even one life, it's worth it.'
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