An skilled stuntman is on the highway to restoration after he was severely injured when a gust of wind brought on his world-renowned human cannonball act to go awry in entrance of a shocked crowd.
Chachi Valencia, often called The Rocketman Valencia, was performing the stunt on the Riverside County Honest and Nationwide Date Pageant in Indio, Calif., when he was blown astray on March 2.
Valencia missed the exact touchdown spot on his security internet, bounced again into the air and crashed down onto the concrete beneath him.
“Taking it day-to-day with my trustworthy pup by his aspect,” Valencia wrote in an replace posted on his GoFundMe Monday, together with an image of his arm in a forged, stress-free beside his canine.
“Grateful for time to heal and take in all of the love and snuggles. Right here’s to brighter days forward.”
A video of the scary stunt taken by a Festivalgoer exhibits Valencia wearing a yellow jumpsuit being fired out of a large cannon.
Nonetheless, as he flew via the air, a gust of wind pushed him astray and propelled him towards a security slender security internet suspended up within the air on poles.
The stuntman’s physique landed on the aspect of the web, which despatched him again into the air.
Horrified festivalgoers watched because the daredevil’s physique spun within the air for moments earlier than the violent collision.
Pageant staff shortly rushed over to Valencia as he lay immobile on the bottom.
The sixth-generation circus performer was rushed to the hospital and was identified with damaged ribs, a wrist, and a lacerated liver, in line with his GoFundMe.
“Past the bodily ache, the medical payments are already mounting, and the highway to restoration might be lengthy,” his son, David Valencia, wrote.
“He’s going through vital time away from work and his ardour, and the monetary pressure is including to the stress on his well being and well-being.”
The free-flying performer remembered being pushed “all the way in which over to the sting of the web” earlier than he blacked out.
“From then on, I don’t bear in mind something till I used to be within the ambulance and on the way in which to the hospital,” Valencia instructed NBC 5 on March 7.
The death-defying stunt — which requires a exact calculation for him to tug off the 300 to 500 occasions a 12 months he performs the act for crowds across the globe — by taking all components into impact when mapping out his trajectory, he instructed USA At present.
The stuntman stated he had practiced the stunt with the wind in consideration the day earlier than, however when he was performing the act throughout showtime, the gust that hit him was extra highly effective than he had ready for and pushed him instantly again.
He was simply quarter-hour into his efficiency when the terrifying incident occurred.
Valencia stayed at a relative’s home in California following the accident however has since returned to his house in North Texas.
He stated he hopes to have the ability to return to performing his beloved stunt for followers as quickly as attainable.
Valencia, who’s been concerned within the human cannonball act for 3 many years, is shot from a cannon and hits 55 mph in pace as he’s launched 65 toes within the air to land on the web perched 20 toes off the bottom, in line with his web site.
Valencia instructed USA At present that for the primary 15 years of being concerned within the stunt, he shot his now ex-wife out of the cannon earlier than taking up.
He has carried out his human cannonball act on among the largest levels possible.
The free-flying stuntman was televised being shot out of the canon through the 2012 London Olympics’ closing ceremonies, at Rio De Janeiro’s 2014 Carnival competitors, and in entrance of NASCAR followers on the Texas Motor Speedway in 2022, in line with his web site.
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