Vineland Man Survives Nail in Heart

A self-employed builder hopes to return home Saturday, days after he accidentally shot a nail into his heart.

Dennis Hennis of Vineland says he was working on a neighbor's roof when his nail gun jammed last Saturday.

Hennis tells WPVI-TV in Philadelphia he tried to clear it when it felt like someone poked him in the chest. A three-and-a-half inch nail hit the right side of his heart.

The builder needed to be resuscitated after he went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance before he was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

A team of cardiac and trauma surgeons repaired the damage. Dr. Michael Rosenbloom tells the TV station Hennis is very lucky to have survived the puncture wound to his heart.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)