Medical professionals in China's southern Guangxi Provice had their work cut out for them when a man was brought to their hospital with a rebar impaled through his skull. Even more unlikely than the injury was the fact the man was both conscious and lucid.

Footage of the man, identified only as Ho, is circling the Internet, showing doctors holding the man steady as a local firefighter company uses an industrial-grade bolt-cutter to shorten the rod. 

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Ho, 50, was dismantling his home in Leye County in western Guangxi when the solid metal bar fell from above, entering at his forehead above the right eye and exiting his cheek just above his left upper jaw. Due to the steep angle the rebar took, Ho's brain and eyes were both spared, allowing him to remain awake and aware.

Had the bar yawed even fractionally in any direction other than the one it took, doctors are certain Ho would have been blinded or left with brain injury.

The man was quickly transferred to a larger hospital with more sophisticated imaging equipment so doctors could plan the complex process of removing the bar. Doctors finally settled on a plan to cut away the metal in lengths, lessening the shock of an outright removal. 

Amazingly, despite its dramatic appearance, the injury caused no lasting damage. Reports say that Ho's post-op diagnosis is excellent, that he is out of danger and is expected to make a full recovery.

Ho's case is reminiscent of American Phineas Gage, who in 1848 had a metal tamping iron, a tool used in rock blasting, shot through his skull after a premature ignition accident. He survived, and the injury made Gage a celebrity. He would go on to be a textbook case for neurologists to this day.

Tagsrebar, skull injury