Ladder falls a big cause of workplace injuries. Here's how an Ontario man climbed back from a head injury

Andrew Lupton · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 03, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: November 5

When helium archetypal picked himself up disconnected the crushed aft falling from a ladder connected a occupation tract six years ago, Mark Foster thought astatine worst helium mightiness beryllium a spot sore for a fewer days. 

Though he’d smacked his caput aft tumbling from a tallness of 4 metres, the past 44-year-old from Ingersoll, Ont., initially saw nary crushed to judge he’d suffered an wounded that would soon person life-changing consequences.

“I didn’t suffer consciousness oregon anything,” helium told CBC News. “I got up and I brushed myself off. I acceptable the ladder backmost up — got backmost to work.”

Ladder-related accidents proceed to beryllium a important origin of workplace injuries successful Canada.

What the stats accidental astir falls from heights

Last twelvemonth unsocial successful Ontario, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) reported 242 wounded claims related to ladder accidents and injuries. That works retired to 1 wounded each moving time of the month. On average, those injuries accounted for an mean of 29 mislaid enactment days per person. 

Those stats lone see injuries that led to WSIB claims; they don't relationship for ladder injuries and deaths that hap astatine home.

Public Health Ontario included falls from scaffolding and/or ladders successful its exigency country sojourn statistic from 2019, the aforesaid twelvemonth Foster was hurt.

Those falls led to 20 deaths, 88,000 exigency section visits and 1,024 hospitalizations.

At the clip of his injury, Foster, a maestro electrician besides trained to enactment connected concern refrigeration systems, was installing metallic electrical conduit successful the ceiling of a commercialized gathering successful Paris, Ont. 

It was a modular duty for the experienced contractor who frequently travelled arsenic acold arsenic the Quebec borderline and Thunder Bay for what is highly specialized, method enactment installing air-handling systems successful commercialized and residential buildings.

It wasn’t until aft Foster had finished the installation that time and had packed his tools to caput location that a co-worker noticed Foster didn’t look well. 

“He said thing looks comic and looks airy astir me,” said Foster. “I told him what happened and however acold I fell, and helium said, 'Maybe there’s thing wrong, but let’s get you to a infirmary to marque sure.'”

Issues heightened aft merchandise from hospital

During that infirmary visit, a CT scan showed helium had a cavernoma successful his brain, an abnormal clump of thin-walled humor vessels. Some radical with cavernomas unrecorded normal, steadfast lives, unaware they adjacent person them. Foster's cavernoma wasn't related to the fall, though it would go important successful the weeks and months aft the injury.

This encephalon scan representation shows Mark Foster's skull earlier and aft life-saving country to region a cavernoma, an abnormal clump of thin-walled humor vessels successful his brain. The cavernoma existed earlier his workplace autumn but had to beryllium removed aft his wounded caused encephalon swelling. (Submitted by Mark Foster)

He was released from infirmary feeling OK and with instructions to spot a specialist. In the days that followed his injury, Foster started to acquisition headaches, light-headedness and encephalon fog. 

Seven days aft the fall, Foster stepped retired of his greeting ablution unsteady connected his feet and abruptly incapable to talk clearly. 

“I was talking gibberish basically,” helium said. “And I went downhill from there.”

His woman Sonia called 911 and Foster was yet transported by Ornge aerial ambulance to University Hospital successful London. 

She was told helium was having a changeable caused by encephalon swelling from the caput injury.

Foster was stabilized and spent 2 months recovering successful the hospital. He was backmost location by Christmas, having to relearn however to locomotion and speak. He had extended paralysis connected the close broadside of his body.

After a fewer weeks Sonia, who was overseeing Mark's care, noticed helium wasn’t improving, but really getting worse.

He returned to infirmary and was told the encephalon swelling had returned. Doctors decided the cavernoma, astir the size of a play ball, was successful the mode of his betterment and had to beryllium removed.

Originally surgeons planned to spell done his skull to region the cavernoma but had to power that program during the procedure. They ended up going nether his jaw, stretching a planned four-hour country into 10 hours.

In the years since, he's had up to 30 hours a week of physio and code therapy arsenic good arsenic attraction for depression, which is communal successful patients with caput injuries.

"I had to larn to talk each implicit again," said Foster. "I couldn't adjacent accidental 1 azygous word."

Today Foster is again capable to locomotion and talk, but helium continues to person extended paralysis connected his close side. Elevating his limb for adjacent a 2nd requires immense effort. He has to usage the fingers of his near manus to pry unfastened the ones connected his close if helium wants to usage the close manus to clasp an object.

Now, helium tin spell for abbreviated walks and his code has returned, though Foster occasionally has to halt successful mid-sentence to callback the close connection and implicit his thought. Overall, helium estimates he's astir halfway backmost to wherever helium was earlier the injury.

Sonia insists the betterment is much than that.

"He's truly hard connected himself," she said. "Sometimes I person to punctual him: 'You couldn't bash that adjacent a period ago.'"

Mark is besides trying antithetic therapies successful his recovery, including a Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (PoNS). The strategy uses an physics instrumentality placed connected the lingua to nonstop electrical pulses to the encephalon during rehabilitation exercises to beforehand healing by helping the encephalon rebuild neural connections.

Foster plans to yet instrumentality to work. He whitethorn nary longer beryllium capable to ascend a ladder oregon usage a screw weapon to connect conduit to a ceiling, but hopes to usage his acquisition to thatch apprentices oregon negociate operation projects.

Foster said nary 1 is nary blasted for his injury. There's nary lawsuit. Foster said helium and and his leader were moving safely that day. His wounded was conscionable the effect of a misstep astatine a captious moment.

Part of his information for telling his communicative is to punctual others successful the trades to instrumentality attraction connected the job, and connection a reminder that adjacent a elemental task needs to beryllium done with information successful mind.

To anyone other trying to retrieve from a changeable oregon caput injury, Foster's proposal is simple: Don't springiness up, and beryllium patient.

"As agelong arsenic you are warring your mode back, you tin marque existent progress," helium said. "It's conscionable going to instrumentality time. Sky's the limit."