Clifford “CJ” Suranofsky remembers reading a scripture verse and prayer the day of Nov. 20, 2024. What he couldn’t have known is how his readings would nearly foreshadow what was to happen to him later that day.
Suranofsky is a warehouse site manager and since some of his crews were on vacation, he was helping move an 80,000-pound shipping container. As the 20-foot container moved, the crane carrying it somehow misaligned, slamming into and severing Suranofsky’s right arm.
“I knew it was happening,” he recalls. “I didn’t feel the pain, but saw my right arm starting to fall to the ground. I caught it with my left hand and brought it to my chest.”
Thankfully, he pushed the button on his walkie talkie for someone to call 9-1-1. He would eventually end up at Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital.
At the scene of the accident, his coworker used a belt as a makeshift tourniquet on Suranofsky’s arm.
Still conscience, Suranofsky was giving orders to the crew. He told one to call his wife, Claudia, one to call the president of the company and another to stand in the road to flag down the ambulance.
When his wife arrived, she panicked.
“I calmed her down and told her I was going to lose my right arm and that I was fine if this was the cross the Lord wanted me to bear. I’d be happy to do it,” he says. “I had her call my dad—I wanted him to hear from me that I was in an accident and not get a call from the hospital. I told him I was going to be fine.”
Once the ambulance arrived, Suranofsky walked himself to the gurney. It even shocked the ambulance crew.
“I knew nothing about Ben Taub Hospital,” he says. “But now, I’m aware it’s a wonderful Level I trauma center. I was amazed—there was a team of surgeons waiting for me when
I got there. I told the doctors, ‘I don’t want a trophy arm. If I’m only going to have 30 percent usage, just cut it off.’
Unfortunately, his right arm couldn’t be saved.
Suranofsky had a total of three surgeries and was in the hospital for 21 days. During his stay, he and his wife would have dates at Subway. Suranofsky’s positive attitude
amazed staff with some of them calling him an inspiration.
“The Ben Taub Hospital staff and physicians are amazing,” he says. “Every day for three weeks, Dr. Matthew Davis would come to my room at 5:30 a.m. to check-in on me and change my wound dressing. It meant a lot to me that I could set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. and know Dr. Davis would be there every morning.”
Suranofsky is anxious to resume his life and work and is looking forward to getting his prosthetic.