Courtesy CBS 13

(October 27, 2010) KHTK host Don Geronimo suffered serious injuries in a fall from a Cal Expo stage last week, but the popular radio personality is recovering back at home and thanking those that helped him during the frightening incident.

Geronimo tumbled head first off the five-foot-tall stage onto a concrete floor late Friday night, earning a severe concussion and a gash that split his head open from eyebrow to crown, along with a jammed shoulder and an assortment of cuts and bruises.

"I had a mic with a cord, and as I got towards the end of the stage, as I leaned over, I tripped on the cord… and that is all I remember," Geronimo said.

Don's wife, Janet, said the accident may have been much, much worse if spectators at the show hadn't leaped to his aid.

"It's just a miracle that he's alive," Janet said.

A first responder named Laura Hernandez was sitting in the front row, Janet said, and she was at Don's side within seconds.

"As soon as he went down, she was there," she said.

The severity of his injuries wasn't apparent to Don until doctors at the UC Davis Medical Center appraised his wounds.

"I thought, 'Oh, I just took a header off stage,' not that that has ever happened to me before," Don said. "They are the ones who said, 'Seriously, if you didn't get the right care, either you're not going to walk again, or maybe you're going to die.'"

Both Don and Janet thanked everyone, from the doctors to coworkers to the fans who stopped by the station to write "get well soon" messages, and say Don is definitely coming back to the airwaves with his sense of humor still intact.

"No pun intended: It would have been quite a black eye for Sacramento if I had shown up for my first live solo show and killed myself," Don said.

Until Geronimo returns to top form, KHTK-1140 will air "best of" segments from noon to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. The healing process is expected to take at least two weeks.

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