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Every Fencer's Nightmare
By Rod Fleming
[This article was originally written in the late summer of 2002.]
This is usually a story you only hear about second hand from some club in Europe or something that becomes part of the lore of the sport, but this really happened. It happened at [name withheld], and it happened just about a month ago. Unless testing proves otherwise, it can only be ascribed to one of those freak happenings. I’m not sure just how to write this because parts of it are hysterically funny, but parts of it should give any fencer a good case of the willies.
I don’t think I’ll name the fencers, just for privacy’s sake in case this should get picked up by some organization (for some reason, the stuff I write for local use ends up getting wider publication, and sometimes without my knowledge). Let’s just call them X and Y. That’s a set of good algebraic names. Besides, club members already know who they are.
Anyway, X and Y are engaged in a vigorous electric epee bout. Now, here’s an important point. Both fencers are obeying the safety rules. They’re wearing the proper equipment and using proper, well cared for weapons. Both fencers are being aggressive, just as you should be in epee. There is another fencer acting as director.
X and Y both decide to launch an attack at the same time. They both lunge and it most cases, this is obviously going to be a double. Y hits X in the mask, the head being perfectly legal target and X does have the tendency to lean forward in the attack. So far, so good.
Now, the unthinkable happens. X’s mask fails. In a split second, a neat hole is punched through the mask and the tip hits X in the face just over an inch below the left eye. The tip breaks the skin and travels through the tissue of the face, exiting just below the earlobe. X lets out a loud “Yeow!” and in horror, Y withdraws the point. For a second both fencers stand transfixed and then shock hits about the same time that blood begins to flow from under the mask. X falls to the floor probably more from shock than pain, at least immediately.
To their credit, the club members react swiftly. They get X’s mask off (that took courage since nobody knew what they were about to find. A burst eyeball is NOT a pleasant sight) and took steps to stop the bleeding. Someone called 911 and an ambulance arrived within minutes.
The paramedics at the scene took over and it was decided to send X to Hermann, there being concern about nerve damage to the face. The path of the point could have damaged a branch of the trigeminal nerve that exits the skull at about the place where X was hit and that controls lower part of the face. They loaded X in the ambulance and sped off to the Medical Center.
Once in the ER, things began to get a little amusing, if your humor runs to the darker side of the human condition. The redoubtable Red Duke was in the ER, and although he didn’t work on X, his twang could be heard. The doc who did take the case looked at X and asked what had happened. When he was told, he immediately started yelling to the interns and residents. “Hey Y’all! Come here. This is something you’re never going to see anywhere in your careers. An actual sword wound!” Now, X had gone from trauma victim to medical celebrity.
The trauma surgeon decided to do a head CT to assess whatever damage might have occurred.
So, now accompanied by a wolf pack of interns, off they go to CT scanning. The scan revealed an air trail outlining the passage of the point, but no apparent damage to the nerve. The tip evidently passed just under the skin, skirting the cheekbone and cleanly exiting just under the earlobe. There is a plane just under the skin that separates skin from underlying subcutaneous tissue. The epee evidently followed the path of least resistance. Knowing that, it now became a matter of lidocaine and stitches. And a tetanus booster would probably not be a bad idea.
While they were getting ready to stitch the wound, X’s contact was being removed by what he reports to be a VERY cute blonde MD. The MD couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you guys supposed to wear masks or something?”
To borrow the phrase from the media, X was treated and released, not too much the worse for wear. His family had arrived and was relieved that there didn’t appear to be any real harm done. He did have to explain to his young niece that yes, he did get stabbed, but he was wearing the mask like he was supposed to. It just broke.
The mask in question is going to be sent to the USFA armory to see if there is a defect or some other problem. X has a mask just like it (a Negrini) that was purchased at the same time. He will use club masks for the time being. The club has authorized the purchase of a mask tester and a set of shims. Also, the club’s first aid kit’s stock has been expanded (including surgical gloves).
X was back fencing (foil) the next week and recounting the tale of his accident. He is going to have a real dueling scar, dead straight, and the envy of any frustrated menseur participant. Examination of the mask shows that the wires, six of them, all simply broke cleanly. At this time, no one knows why.
I think everybody has come away from this incident with a “there but for the grace of God…” sort of feeling. This could have been much worse and we all know it. No blame goes to Y, and I’m pretty sure he was just as traumatized as X. At this time, all we can say is that it was one of those freak things that happen on occasion. We have all had blades break against us, or our blades broke against an opponent and when there is real unbated steel involved, things can get ugly very fast. This wasn’t one of those cases. Fortunately, we are conditioned to stop immediately when the director says “Halt”.
Fencing is still a very safe sport, more so than most others, certainly more than ice hockey or rugby or rodeo. Still, an incident like this should make us all stop and realize that even though we have all the gear to be safe, it isn’t something that we can take for granted.
POSTSCRIPT
The mask went to Nationals and believe it or not, it passed all of the normal tests that a mask would have to pass at a major USFA tournament. That is, if you don’t count the little hole in the front and the blood soaked into the bib. They put it on display for a while until some of the fencing Moms in the crowd got queasy and had them take it down.
The Negrini rep was there and he was not a happy camper, needless to say. We do know that the particular model of mask that X uses has been discontinued, but there is no known history of problems with it. I do not know the company’s official position on the incident although it would be interesting to find out. We probably wouldn’t learn much from a company statement though, corporate lawyers being what they are. I would be very interested in the pedigree of the mesh used in the construction of the mask and how many manufacturers are using that particular material.
The Club Armorer has his punch tester and has gone over every club mask and has failed a few, mostly for bib problems. He’s also checking member owned masks if you ask him to. He’ll stamp it if it passes. I have been thinking about raiding my wood shop for a spare pair of polycarbonate safety glasses to wear under my mask. Maybe that’s overkill, but one look at the failed mask makes me wonder if it isn’t a good idea.
As for X, he’s still fencing. He says that one eye doesn’t quite close all the way when he goes to sleep and his smile is, while not lopsided, noticeably different on the left side so there has obviously been some nerve involvement, though its minor. It will probably clear up on it’s own after a while. In the mean time, he’s still a fencer and ready to try and beat any and all that step onto the strip with him. I say we take him up on the challenge.
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