HEADLINES: This week's tough SOB award goes to...

You remember that story from last year about the Florida guy who fought off a bobcat with his bare hands. Yeah, that d00d was one tough SOB.

This week, we met another tough old SOB, Steve Wilder of Omaha, Neb.

Wilder awoke a few nights ago to find that his throat had swollen shut and he was unable to breath.

What to do? Call 911 and die while waiting for an ambulance to show up too late? No thanks. How about give yourself a tracheotomy with a FREAKIN' STEAK KNIFE!!!

"Got a knife and located it and pushed in and blood went gush.” Blood was gushing out, but air was gushing in. Wilder was successful at performing a self-tracheotomy. "I think I closed my eyes, but fear or something took over. I didn't feel no pain or nothing."

Surgeons train for years to do what took Wilder only moments, though it wasn’t an entirely new experience. He had throat cancer several years ago, which is where his breathing problems originated. The same thing happened some years back, so he grabbed a steak knife and went to work.

Dayum! Makes my self-ingrown toenail-otomy look kind of wussy by comparison.

Look for a story link similar to this to show up on ER or Grey's Anatomy in the next few weeks.

tagged: headlines, news, tracheotomy, steak knife, Steve Wilder, surgery