Roustabout vows 'no more looking back' after losing leg in oilfield accident

Kenneth "Spunk" Williams enjoys time with his son, Brayden, 4. Since before he was born, Kenneth has been known for his spunk. "Mom nicknamed me while she was pregnant with me," he said. "I guess I was always kicking, because she tells me I was a spunky little guy." That spunk is paying off for Williams these days as he awaits the prosthetic replacement of the lower leg he lost in an oil field accident. (Gene O. Morris/McCook Gazette)

HERNDON, Kansas -- A routine day of oil rig-checking turned into a life-changing day for Kenneth "Spunk" Williams, a roustabout for Robuck Petroleum LLC of McCook.

Spunk's way of being changed instantly Monday morning, Dec. 2, when a chain wrapped around his left leg so tightly that it severed the leg just about at the knee.

"I had looked down a couple of times to be sure I was clear of the chains, but I must not have looked down the last time," Spunk said. The result was immediate. "I felt the chain tightening and knew there was no turning back." Within minutes, the lower leg was gone.

As soon as they saw what had happened, the rest of Spunk's crew sprung into action. The crew -- consisting of Brad Starks, Aaron Sutton, Christopher Cline, Mike Hitt and Kenny Breidenbach -- had Spunk loaded in a vehicle with his lost limb and headed from the Hafner Field south of Herndon to the hospital in Oberlin in a matter of minutes.

With Starks at the Wheel and Sutton by Spunk's side, the trio sped to the hospital. "The pain was bad but not as bad as you would think it would be," Spunk said. "I remember everything until we were headed to the hospital."

Spunk wasn't at the Oberlin hospital long. As soon as attending physicians saw the severity of his injury, they summoned an air ambulance and Spunk was airlifted to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney.

"Every minute of the way I was treated royally," Spunk said. "I will be forever grateful to my crew, my bosses, and the medical staffs at both Oberlin and Kearney. They're all great people and they did all they could to make me as comfortable as I could be under the circumstances."

It's now been 24 days since the accident, and Spunk has reconciled himself to life as it will be; rather than life as it was.

"My spirits are high," he said. "There will be no more looking back."

As he contemplates his new life, Spunk looks forward to being fitted and getting his new leg; spending time with his son, Brayden, 4; and eventually returning to work for Robuck Petroleum. "I won't be able to be a roustabout, but I will be able to do office work and well-checking," he said.

Spunk, whose full name is Kenneth Ramon Calder-Williams, is a resident of McCook. His mother, Joan Dack, is also facing health challenges as her cancer diagnosis was confirmed on the same day Spunk was injured.

With oil activity picking up in Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas, Spunk is hoping his accident is a reminder to others of the dangers that oil field workers face every day. "Let my accident be a lesson to you," he says. "Be careful."