I pulled this from a post in another thread where it is probably lost to
most but avows to the life saving potential of a simple cotton cycling cap:
Footy strip saves boy's life
May 14 2006
By The Sunday Sun
A youngster has spoken for the first time about how his Arsenal shirt
saved his life when he was impaled on a metal spike.
The spike pierced 10-year-old John Hough's chest, just missing his heart
and lungs, but did not penetrate the plum-coloured shirt.
Doctors said the shirt stopped the spike going deeper and damaging vital
organs.
John was yesterday recovering at home in Thorney Close, Sunderland.
He said: "It shows I was right to support Arsenal. If I was wearing a
normal T-shirt, I probably would be dead.
"The doctor said if the top had ripped, the spike would definitely have
gone in deeper and I could have died.
"It would have stabbed my lungs and maybe my heart."
His mother, Jackie McGlade, said John had been in a friend's garden when
he climbed the fence to look at a trampoline next door.
He pulled himself off the spike while friends ran for Jackie.
She said: "It doesn't bear thinking about. The doctors said he was very
lucky not to have damaged a vital organ.
"If the spike had gone in any further, it would have damaged his lungs
and heart. He could've been killed and, if he hadn't been wearing his
Arsenal strip, he probably would have.
"When I looked at the shirt afterwards I could not believe it. It hadn't
been torn, there was just a little dent in it and blood where the spike
had gone through but, amazingly, it was still in one piece."
John is fanatical about Thierry Henry. He said: "I've supported Arsenal
since I was eight years old and my favourite player is Henry.
"Most of my friends support Sunderland, but I like Arsenal because they
are better.
"My mam and dad bought me one of the special plum-coloured strips for
Christmas. It doesn't have a name on it but I'd like Henry's name to be
on the back.
"The only thing wrong with the shirt was there was blood on it and a
dint where the spike stretched it.
"But my Mam put it through the wash and it is back to normal, as good as
new. It must be really good quality."
John, a pupil at Farringdon Primary School, will be wearing the top on
Wednesday, when, with his four-year-old brother, Liam, he will be
watching his team take on Barcelona in the Champions League Final on TV.
Jackie said: "He's just like any other little boy and likes climbing.
"He was looking in the garden next door, because they have a trampoline,
but in the excitement he stumbled and landed on the spike.
"I was frantic when I found him because you could see right through the
wound and some of his flesh was hanging out.
"The first thing he said when he came round from his operation was:
`Mam, I can't believe my Arsenal strip is ruined'. But it wasn't and it
saved his life."
--
Tony
"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci