- A 72-year-old grandfather was pinned beneath his 400kg ride-on mower after unstable ground collapsed while he was mowing a paddock
- Trapped for 90 minutes with a punctured lung, he managed to activate his iPhone’s Emergency SOS feature and call for help despite having no reception
- Rescued by his family and flown to hospital, he has reunited with the first responders who helped save his life
Here David Thomas, 72, from Mount White, NSW, tells his story in his own words
‘I’m the luckiest bloke I know,’ I told my wife, Maryann, 68.
In December 2025, with my 72nd birthday coming up, I’d been reflecting.
Maryann and I had fallen in love when I was 43 and she was 39. Blending our families, we now had seven kids and 15 grandkids. Our hearts and hands were full!
Life can’t get much better than this, I thought.
After a long career in the police force, I wasn’t ready for retirement.
So when an old mate offered us the gig of maintaining his 22-acre property, Maryann and I jumped at the chance.
We looked after the land and homestead with the help of our daughter Lisa, 47, while two young blokes, Jacob and Trent, did any heavy lifting needed, and the owner ran the on-site equestrian centre.
That morning, I’d woken bright and early ready for a busy day.
It was my job to mow the 23 paddocks, while Maryann and Lisa tended to the homestead.
Jumping onto my John Deere ride-on lawnmower, I drove towards the first paddock.
Steered by two handles, the powerful machine had three circulating blades so I knew to be careful.
Later in the day I headed to paddocks on a slope by a creek, around 250m from the homestead.
READ MORE: ‘Camping accident: A gum tree trapped me inside my swag’
I was navigating the far edge of the fenceline nearest the creek, when suddenly – Whomp!
I was face-up in a shallow creek bed, pinned beneath my mower and gasping for air.
I’m in trouble here, I thought, as water pooled around my face and ears.
Miraculously, my eyes, nose and mouth were above the water.
But my left leg was bent and jammed tightly against my chest. It felt like the air was being crushed from my lungs as pain tore through me.
I knew the only way to get out of this alive this was to keep breathing.
Someone will find me, I reassured myself, as I wriggled my limbs.
My left arm was pinned by my side, but I had movement in my wrist, while my right arm had more movement.
If I can reach my phone, I can call for help, I thought.
The device was wedged tightly in my left thigh pocket, so I clawed at it and managed to scoot it out and into the palm of my left hand, before grabbing it with my right.
Lifting the screen into view, I squinted to focus, but it was no good.
I can’t see without my glasses, I realised.
READ MORE: ‘A crocodile tore off my arm. Five days later, I walked down the aisle’
Desperately I prodded at where the zero digit would be, trying to call emergency services.
No call connected. There was no reception.
My stomach sank, but I knew there was a way to make an SOS call. I just couldn’t remember how.
By now, around 30 minutes had passed and in the distance I could hear a tractor, with Maryann and Lisa calling my name.
‘Over here!’ I tried to scream, but my voice was a whisper.
They know I’m missing. They’ll find me, I reasoned.
Turning my attention back to my iPhone, I tapped, shook, pressed and clicked anything, desperate to activate the SOS call.
By now I’d been missing for an hour.
Finally, I clicked the lock button on the side of the phone five times.
The phone started ringing and a man’s voice answered.
‘I’m trapped under a mower in the creek,’ I whispered.
My voice was too soft and the emergency operator couldn’t hear me, but he knew I needed help.
READ MORE: ‘Cyclone Gabrielle: ‘I was stranded on the roof for seven hours’’
‘Hold tight, mate, I’m sending search and rescue,’ he said, staying on the line.
Moments later, Jacob was by my side after spotting the upturned mower in the creek.
‘I’ve got you!’ he said.
But the mower weighed 400kg. It wouldn’t budge.
‘I’m going to get help!’ Jacob said, racing off.
Moments later, Maryann, Lisa and Trent were rallying around me.
By now the horrific pain was debilitating. I don’t know how much fight I’ve got left in me, I thought.
Finally, Trent and Jacob managed to raise the mower high enough for Lisa to jiggle me out.
I gasped for air and suddenly I was surrounded by paramedics.
‘You’re going to be okay,’ one told me as they scanned my ribs and chest.
Paramedics got me up and helped me to climb a ladder out of the creek bed.
I gave Maryann a kiss before I was airlifted by the Toll Ambulance Rescue Helicopter to the Royal North Shore Hospital, 60km away. There I was rushed through for scans.
‘You’re a miracle,’ doctors said when they came back clear.
Incredibly I’d survived 90 minutes trapped with no broken bones. But I had punctured my lung – something docs believed had happened on impact.
‘Thank god you’re okay!’ Maryann and Lisa said when they saw me.
Now eight months on, I’m back on the mower, but keeping a safer distance from the fenceline.
It was later revealed a week of heavy rain had left the soil unstable there, causing it to collapse beneath me as I mowed.
I’ve been reunited with the first responders who saved my life. ‘Thank you for everything,’ I told them, tears filling my eyes when I hugged them.
I really am the luckiest man alive!
To support NSW Ambulance, visit ambulance.nsw.gov.au/get-involved/donations-and-sponsorship
