Can you get stabbed in the head AND be lucky?

On April 17th, 28-year-old police offer Eder Loor was stabbed in the left temple with a three-inch switchblade while on duty in East Harlem. In other words, this entire blade was inside of his brain:

(Photo from ABC News)

Was he lucky?

A lot of commenters around the internet balk at the idea that you could be stabbed in the head and lucky at the same time. But Dr. Joshua Bederson, the neurosurgeon who operated on Loor, called him “a very lucky man.”

I agree with Dr. Bederson, because a) agreeing with the head of neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center on an issue involving his own patient is a safe bet, b) he reminds me, slightly, of David Cross, and c) YES, SWEET JESUS, THE GUY WAS LUCKY.

“It was a millimeter from everything,” Dr. Bederson said. “It was ridiculous.”

No one will argue with the fact that getting stabbed in the head is very, very unlucky. According to FBI statistics for 2010, the last year full stats were available, there were 778,901 aggravated assaults in the country, 19% of which involved “knives or cutting instruments.” That’s about 147,992 stabbings–but I’ll assume that not all of those people took a 3″ blade to the head.

The point is that there are no statistics that tell us how many people were stabbed in the head and managed to escape any serious side effects. (When Loor awoke after surgery, he had full mobility in his extremities, intact vision, and normal speech.) Without knowing the exact figures, it’s rare to get stabbed in the head. But among people who get stabbed in the head, this kind of recovery is even more rare.