The 29-year-old bar owner from Blair, Wis., spent a couple of weeks recovering at his parents' house after being released from the hospital Jan. 27, one week after his fall from a Minneapolis hotel after a night out with friends.

"I'm walking without a crutch, I'm getting around pretty good. I mean, I feel really good," Hanson said Tuesday. "If you didn't know I fell, ... you wouldn't think anything. I've got a couple of scrapes, and I had some stitches, and I got a broken leg, and that's it. I can't complain about nothing."

His two collapsed lungs and torn trachea have healed, and he's been back at work at Heine's bar since last week, slowly returning to his routine.

Hanson doesn't hesitate to talk about his fall and remarkable survival, but his memory of that night is foggy.

"I don't remember the fall at all," he said. "I've been saying that's probably a good thing. I feel really lucky I don't remember it because I probably would have some pretty serious nightmares."

He does recall drinking with his pals at a couple of bars in St. Paul before going back to the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency. They stopped by a darts tournament being held at the hotel and afterward headed to their rooms in the early morning of Jan. 20.

"Then we come back off the elevator and that's when, for whatever reason ... I decided to take off running," Hanson said. "I don't know why I took off running or what really led up to it, but -- I did."

Sprinting down the hallway alone, he said he was confused by the reflection on the window pane at the end. With a crash, the 275-pound former prep football player and wrestler broke through a double-paned window with a safety bar.

"It appeared like there was more hallway there, you know. I wasn't paying really close attention," he said. "It's floor-to-ceiling glass. It's reflective, which I should have seen for myself. There was an exit sign there. It kind of appeared like there was more hallway there. Obviously -- there wasn't."

Hanson said he doesn't know why he ran but clarified that his pals weren't horsing around, as has been reported.

The fall has made him more contemplative and given him a fresh perspective, he said, though he didn't know whether it would cause him to drink less.

"I seem to think about things a lot more. I haven't made any real rash decisions lately," he said. "Things that seemed so important aren't really as important as I thought, you know, after surviving a fall like this."

Though "not overly religious," he headed to church as soon as he could. "I went to church the first Sunday I got home, no doubt about it," he said. "There ain't too many days go by that I don't thank God that I'm still here."

Asked if he could explain why he survived, he said: "I wish I knew, for real I do. Somebody had a plan for me. I don't know why I survived. There's definitely a reason. I survived for my daughter, I need to be there for her. I survived for other people that love me, for other people around."

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=285161

Submitted on 02/23/2007

Submitted by:
Reference: Rochestr Post Bulletin 2/22/07

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Graham said:
Definitely Toss: Other
Thanks for the update, but this is a progress report, rather than an actual story. We do recall this drunk falling from the building, though

James said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
As I recall, I liked this story, and this follow-up puts the cherry on the cake. I particularly like the part where he, though irreligious (no doubt having been full of his own sense of invincibility) goes to church! I'll wager he forgets church in short order and tries this again, but we can always be hopeful he's seen the error of his ways!

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
I don't recall seeing the original so I will vote for Darwin to take a look

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