ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140035
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
With one hand on a branch for support, Robert Martin leaned over the edge of a tree stand Monday morning to retrieve his coat with his other hand. The branch broke and the Blacksburg man fell 20 feet.
Martin, director of the teaching hospital at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, was flown to the University of Virginia Hospital that afternoon. He was put in the intensive care unit to await back surgery that will make it easier for him to sit up in a wheelchair.
The surgery will not change one thing: the fall paralyzed the animal surgeon from beneath his rib cage to his toes. He can still moves his arms and upper body, but the fall severed his spinal cord and broke his back in two places, according to the Rev. Ernest Baker, who found Martin after the accident.
Baker met Martin early Monday morning to hunt deer on 70 acres of land the professor owns northeast of Blacksburg off Catawba Road. Baker said he and Martin went their separate ways, but he knew which tree stand his friend planned to use. He also expected Martin to leave the property about 8:15 a.m. to go to work at Tech.
Baker quit hunting about 10 a.m. and went home. Around noon, Martin's wife called him and said her husband had not shown up for his appointments. Baker said he returned to the Montgomery County property and found his friend shortly before 1 p.m.
More than six hours had passed, but Baker said Martin seemed calm and used his medical skills to tell him what to pass on to rescue workers.
Baker said Martin told him: "Don't touch me. My back is broken and I can't move my legs." He even came close to pinpointing which vertebrae were broken, Baker said.
The LifeGuard 10 rescue helicopter landed in a nearby field and took Martin to Roanoke. There he was told he was paralyzed, Baker said, and then he was quickly put on the chopper to fly to Charlottesville.
Martin, known by his friends as Bob, has remained emotionally strong since the accident, according to Baker.
When Baker left Martin at the hospital early Tuesday, Martin asked him to pray with him. In that prayer he asked the Lord to "use my body like you never have before." Baker said Martin wants people to know that he is handling what has happened.
"Whatever the doctors tell him is the limit, he'll go that far and a step beyond," Baker said. "He's in pretty good spirits. He is trying to communicate to people that he has a handle on it. He is not a quitter."
Baker said Martin teaches college-level Sunday school at his church, Harvest Baptist. He is also chairman of the deacons there and the father of four children - two sons and two daughters.
Martin was appointed director of the veterinary hospital in May 1993, according to Jeff Douglas, spokesman for the college. He joined the faculty as a professor in 1983 and is certified by both the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.
"The thoughts and prayers of all of us in the regional college and throughout the university community are with Bob and his family during this extremely difficult time," said Peter Eyre, dean of the college. "We all look forward to his successful convalescence and return to the college."
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Martinby CNB