_{Thumbnail photo courtesy of GoFundMe}

Jason Turner didn’t have time to see what he grabbed before it exploded.

The father of seven and his girlfriend, Pamala Ganfield, were spending a post-holiday afternoon at the beach north of Crescent City. As they walked along the beach, Pamala picked up some trash, putting it in a pile to retrieve before they left, when something round and shiny caught Turner’s eye.

“We walked close to the water’s edge, there was a little bit of sand over it, but it was fairly close to where the water would get us,” he said. “To me, it looked like a lead sinker with something on it and I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be cool,’ and that’s the last thing that happened.”

Two weeks after the July 5 explosion at Point St. George forced doctors at U.C. Davis Medical Center to amputate his left hand, Turner is back home in Klamath. He says he’s slowly getting used to his new life, including figuring out how to maneuver a game controller to play Fortnight, but he has a long road of surgeries, doctors visits, occupational and physical therapies ahead of him.

As of Thursday, Turner said he’s had two procedures on his arm and surgery on his eyes to remove metal fragments from the device. He says he also has five or six holes in his chest and abdomen from the explosion.

But, there are no burn wounds, Turner said. 

“I’ve been in good spirits,” he said. “That’s not going to change.”

Though Turner is optimistic, Ganfield said she’s still struggling.

“I don’t like to be alone now,” she said. “We had a couple of gunshots going off around our house… I think the loud noises and being by myself is going to be the hardest struggle to kind of get over.”

Ganfield, who was holding Turner’s hand when he saw the explosive, said she almost fell to the ground when it went off.

“I heard the loudest boom I ever heard in my life,” she said. “I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear anything and I was looking up… I kept blinking my eyes (wondering) what was going on. I’m at the beach and I turned to look and Jason started screaming for dear life.”

Ganfield said she ripped off her shirt to make a tourniquet and began running down the beach screaming for people to call 911. Turner was rushed to Sutter Coast Hospital and later transported to Sacramento.

On Thursday, Turner called her his hero.

“She saved my life,” he said.

Following the explosion, Turner’s daughter Ashley set up a GoFundMe page for her father. In her most recent on July 11, she announced that doctors released Jason Turner from the hospital. He had regained his sight, but was only hearing through one ear, Ashley Turner said. 

As of Monday, Turner’s GoFundMe campaign has raised $111,280 of a $130,000 goal with the proceeds going toward transportation to and from medical appointments, hotel stays for her father and his family during his recovery and medication.

Turner will have to travel to Sacramento every week through October to ensure his sutures and his arm are healing properly, Ganfield said. 

“We still have to get a hold of occupational therapy and then orthopedic prosthetics to see what he could be fitted for,” she said.

Turner said one healthcare professional mentioned getting a robotic arm, which he thought sounded cool.

“I definitely want something,” he said. “At least a hook or something that I could use — they sent me some pretty cool stuff when I was in the hospital.”

According to Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott, by the time his deputies made it to the scene of the explosion on July 5, the tide had come in and washed away any debris that was left behind.

In the days that followed, deputies combed the beaches for further devices, the sheriff said, adding that Search and Rescue personnel also assisted.

“Thank God nobody’s found anything else on the beaches,” he said Monday.

In a July 10 Redwood Voice article, Scott urged people to report anything suspicious on the beach to the sheriff’s office.

Meanwhile, as they recover from their experience, Turner and Ganfield say they’re trying to live as normal a life as they possibly can. That’s difficult for Turner, Ganfield says, because he’s used to going to work seven days a week. 

Turner said he works for a company that does subcontracting work for Green Diamond Resource Company and the Yurok Tribe. 

“I do logging and road building, construction and truck driving,” he said. “I do it all up here.”

Currently, getting back and forth between Klamath and Sacramento is their greatest obstacle, Ganfield said. She said they’re grateful for the support from the GoFundMe campaign as it will allow them to get a more reliable vehicle.

“Honestly we kind of lost hope and faith in humanity and this lets us know there are good people out there,” she said. “We just want to put out there how appreciative we are of everybody’s support, whether it was a thank you or anything else.”