Words straight from ESPN
http://espn.go.com/action/blog?sport=freeskiing&post=6020697
Nick Martini ripped his spleen into three pieces and bruised his heart sliding a rail Tuesday night in Spokane, Wash.
The 20-year-old North Face and Salomon athlete was filming with Cam Riley and Clayton Villa for Poor Boyz Productions in Spokane Valley. The crew was filming and shooting stills with photographer Erik Seo on a down-flat-down rail. Near the end of sliding the rail, Martini caught his front edge and fell to the pavement, landing on his head and chest. Fortunately, Martini was only three miles from the hospital, where after a quick examination, doctors performed surgery and removed his spleen two hours after his fall.
"My heart is all good, though," said an upbeat Martini by phone Thursday afternoon from his hospital bed in the ICU unit at Spokane's Valley Hospital. "It all happened pretty quickly, so it didn't seem too big a deal at the time. Now I have one less organ."
Martini plans on returning home to Breckenridge, Colo., to rest and heal once he's discharged from the hospital Saturday morning. According to Martini, doctors told him that although his immune system will be weaker without a spleen, he should be okay to return to skiing in four weeks.
Martini was supposed to go to Finland with Poor Boyz later this month. Now that those travel and film plans are shelved, Martini will be in Aspen during Winter X to help out Salomon and The North Face while doing behind-the-scenes filming for the 11th annual Powder Magazine Video Awards. In addition, he will be editing footage for his own ski-film company, Stept Productions, while he recovers.
Prior to getting injured, Martini and company claimed to be having a great session Tuesday night. "It was probably one of the sickest rails I've ever hit, to be honest. Cam and especially Clayton were killing it," Martini said. "But it's all good, as it could have been worse and I could have internal bleeding or my heart bruise could be real bad. Stuff happens when you're jumping over pavement all day."
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