This is kind of on the same line, but I have a story about being saved by a face mask. 

I was on the Little River Canyon in Alabama a few months ago in January.   We had been paddling numerous III / III+’s and we came to a very minor wave train that was nothing to worry about.  I let my guard down, which I know I should not have, but it was nothing to even think about.  All of a sudden I started to flip over and I started to tuck up.  As this was happening, I saw my face smash into the edge of a rock underwater. 

This impact occurred in about 0.02 seconds, so there was absolutely no time to react and tuck forward.  However, at the time it seemed like slow motion, as I saw my face going straight into this edge and upon impact could feel it very badly.  I saw stars from it and had a bad headache for two days with maybe a mild concussion.  I was really stunned and not able to think clearly and did not even try and roll.  I swam out into an eddy, at which point I felt my lip which hurt and saw some minor blood on my glove.  

I then took off my helmet, the Cascade with the steel cage screwed on the front.  Thank goodness I was wearing a helmet with a facemask as some steel chunks were missing, with most of the impact being on the bar right below my left eye.  Note, I say chunks, not minor scratches.  Some steel was also missing from the bottom bar along with numerous scratches from the plastic covering.  I could tell upon impact, the face mask took the brunt of the impact and then my lip hit the bottom as it slid down to cut it.

I won’t say that the facemask saved my life, but it came very close to it.  From remembering this edge and seeing the location & severity of the damage to the steel, I hate to think of what would have happened without it.  I am certain I would have ended up with a broken cheek, broken nose, and quite possibly also blind in my left eye & broken jaw.  Had that happened, the others in my party would have been in a real life-threatening wilderness emergency.  I would have been unconscious and unable to roll up.  They would have pulled me up with a busted face and unable to get me down the river.  The LRC is in a remote canyon (by southeastern standards) with no road or trail, which make me believe the only way I would have been getting out of there is by a helicopter and the AL National Guard.  No matter how I got out, it would for sure have been ugly and I would have been facing massive reconstructive surgery to my face.  

None the less, I will NEVER paddle a kayak on moving water without my face mask.  Yeah, people may think they look silly and are not necessary, but I am living proof of their value.  The cost of that helmet is only 0.001% of what my bills would have been, even having good health insurance.  If I can figure out how to post pictures of the damage to the list-serve, I will.