If it had happened to me, I would hope somebody would have done the same for me.
– Darrell Koon

Eileen Blyth

Of all the artists who have created works for the first phase of Paint Five Points, none has put as much into the project as Eileen Blyth.

Blyth was in her second–floor Five Points studio, cutting the board she was going to paint on. When she pushed the board through the blade, she saw her two fingers on the surface of the worktable.

“For a couple of seconds, I didn’t believe it because I really didn’t feel anything. By the time it started to hurt, I was saying to myself, You’ve really done it this time! All the artists in the studio had promised each other not to work at the saw unless someone else was here .”

Before she went into shock, Blyth composed herself enough to wrap her hand carefully, call 911, and go downstairs, afraid she would pass out in the studio with no one around.

On her unluckiest day, Blyth was lucky Darrell Koon was around.

“We were working at Santee and Blossom when she came out of her studio door, and Tony (Trussell) and I could see she was frantic,” said Koon, a utility worker with Trussell Brothers Construction.

“At first we couldn’t make out what she was saying, so I sat her down, and calmed her down. When I could understand what she was saying, I called 911 again to make sure the ambulance was on the way.”

Later Blyth recalled her Samaritan put her in his truck and waited with her, calming her all the while, until more help arrived.

Koon said when the EMS team got there, they asked him to go upstairs and look for the fingers she had cut off. “I proceeded to go up there, but couldn’t find them. By the time I got back downstairs, her boyfriend had gotten there, and we both went back upstairs to look again. He found the fingers that had been cut off.”

Blyth said she lucked out again because the hand surgeon on duty at Palmetto Health Richland was reputed to be one of the best in the region. Unfortunately, he was unable to save the fingers.

As Blyth underwent rehabilitation therapy, she wondered how she would ever find the man to thank him for being so kind to her following the accident. Finally, Debbie Parker with the Five Points Association got Koon’s name and number.

“If it had happened to me, I would hope somebody would have done the same for me,” Koon said.

Blyth completed her painting with one hand and submitted it, along with another one completed before the accident, to Paint Five Points, an ongoing Five Points Association project celebrating the arts.

Both of Blyth’s works will be on display in March in Five Points along with works by other artists who have ties to the village.