HAMMOND | Watching her steelworker husband suffer for more than two months was tough, but making the decision to let him die was horrendous, Clara Hall says.
She calls Ronald D. Hall, "the love of my life."
Hall, a 38-year worker, died on their 29th wedding anniversary Jan. 30, days after his 57th birthday. Hall, an electrical maintenance worker and member of United Steelworker's Local 1011, was injured Nov. 20 as he was fixing a cobbled roller at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor West's 84-inch hot strip mill in East Chicago.
The rollers were carrying heavy steel tubes that stacked up behind one another when the roller malfunctioned. When Hall released it, the pipes moved forward with such force they tore apart the machinery on the roller assembly and sent it flying on top of Hall, according to reports.
The impact broke Hall's leg and shoulder and knocked him to the mill floor with a section of machinery on his stomach, Clara said, while sitting in her modest home in the Robertsdale area of Hammond, where she's surrounded by family photos, her four cats and her memories.
After a crane removed the object, Hall was taken by company ambulance to an area hospital where he was treated for his broken bones. He didn't undergo a CT scan or MRI until days later, Clara said.
"They called me about 12:05 a.m. (Nov. 21) and told me he was injured," she said. "I didn't know, or even imagine, it would end this way."
Ronald, who was on blood thinner and other medications for heart disease, was injured, but did not appear to be in immediate danger when his wife arrived at the hospital, Clara said.
"He was in terrible pain, but talking."
Ronald, who had been employed at the mill since his high school graduation, eventually convinced his wife to go home. During a later phone conversation, he suggested she get some sleep so she could be up early to put the Thanksgiving turkey in the oven before coming back to the hospital, she said.
"I never heard his voice again," said Hall, a preschool teacher.
Ronald lapsed into a coma as blood built up in his head, she said. As his situation worsened Thanksgiving Day, he was transferred to another hospital, where he underwent surgery to remove the 13-centimeter blood clot from his brain, his wife said.
Ronald, who was on a respirator, had additional surgery a week later and again on Dec. 15 to fix the shunt in his brain and alleviate pressure building in his head. On Dec. 21, when doctors decided they couldn't help him anymore, he was transferred to a long-term care facility.
A week later, he was moved to another hospital where he had more surgery and was treated for bedsores, pneumonia and antibiotic resistant infections, Clara said.
On Jan. 19, on Clara's insistence, Ronald was airlifted to University of Chicago Hospital for evaluation, at ArcelorMittal's expense.
Doctors there told Clara her husband's outlook "wasn't good."
"They said if he had been brought there immediately, his chances would have been about 50-50," Clara said
But she has nothing but praise for ArcerlorMittal's handling of the situation.
The company was wonderful to the Halls during the entire ordeal, Clara said.
"They paid the hospital bills and for his funeral," she said. "They did everything they could for us."
At the beginning of the two-month saga, Hall would squeeze his wife's hand and open one eye. Those responses had stopped as his situation grew graver, she said. On Jan. 28, Clara reluctantly complied with the doctors' advice and allowed Ronald's respirator to be unplugged and his medications stopped.
"He died on Jan. 30 while my son Phillip (Tavoletti) and I were at Baran (& Son) Funeral Home making arrangements," Hall said. "I feel my life ended with his."
