Posted on 11/25/2007 8:33:10 AM PST by ShadowDancer
Farmer Cuts off Right Arm With Pocket Knife to Save Life
Sunday, November 25, 2007
A farmer from Kershaw County, South Carolina, cut off his own arm after it got stuck in a piece of equipment, WYFF4.com reported Sunday.
The nightmare for Sampson Parker began when he noticed a pice of cornstalk stuck in a farm machine. When he tried to release the cornstalk, his hand got stuck in the machine.
After about an hour of being trapped, with no response to his calls for help, Parker's arm became numb. He He reached for his John Deere pocket knife and started cutting his fingers.
Click here to read the full story on Yahoo.com
According to the report, shortly after Parker began his dramatic rescue, a fire broke out. He then did the only thing he could to save his life—sacrifice his right arm.
With little-to-no time to spare, Parker went straight for his arm, cutting away from the bone as fast as he could. Once he severed his arm from his body, he managed to drive himself to a road where a firefighter helped him with the injury.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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accidents happen. this man had the mental fortitude to make a split second, life-saving decision, and took it. hat off to him.
Wow!!!
That is what a friend up the road did. Was in a hurry, did not turn off the tractor and ended up losing his left arm up to the elbow and 2 1/2 fingers on his right hand. After cutting off his arm at the elbow he drove the tractor from the field to a friends house that was (she died of cancer) an RN. He never bled until after she opened the door and he fell to the floor.
He still farms, dairy, beef and hogs.
This is the classic farm accident.Combine corn heads,corn pickers,haybines,all have fast rotating roller shafts and will eat you alive if you get close.He’s lucky he only lost an arm.
That is NOT funny.
Animals don’t have pocket knives, but they do have sharp teeth - and they will use them to chew off one of their own trapped limbs. Not a nice picture, and certainly not worth laughing over.
Try reversing the situation, how would you feel ...
Don’t offer him corn mash....
Sampson Parker is so tough that even with one remaining arm, he could beat the living cr*p out of me and you together!
“Usually hitting the button on the wall will open the doors.”
***
Our office elevators work that way, but not all elevators do.
I should learn patience. If I make the elevator, fine. If not, wait for the next one.
No shite. Damn.
I agree that it would take major huevos to cut your own arm off. Most of the guys I reference above either had the flesh torn off, or mangled so badly that it had to be surgically removed.
Which brings me to a bad joke. You know what "Coyote ugly" is. Do you know what "Double Coyote Ugly" is? It's when she's so ugly that you chew the other arm off so it never happens again.
My wife’s uncle went through a similar experience.
Caught his right arm in a haybine, in an isolated field.
Finished cutting the arm off & drove the tractor to the farm homestead, nobody home... so he drove himself, in his truck, 10 miles to the hospital & walked into the ER.
I didn’t know him till after this, but, he was tough as nails.
He still drove a manual 5 speed truck, wouldn’t accept any help fishing (tying, baiting, landing or cleaning.
I grew up on a farm, and farmed until I was 38.
During that time machinery changed a lot, but my repect for it only grew.
Back when I left the farm, a corn header pulled the corn stalks through the rollers at about 16 feet per second. That number is just a number until you see it in action. 16 feet per second is so fast that if someone has a good grip on that stalk they are unable to let go before they get pulled into the rollers themselves.
Once you see a corn header in action, with it’s hidden rollers, it’s easy to see how a moments carelessness can cost a hand, if you’re lucky.
I never had a serious accident, and only a very few of the people I knew had any kind of real injury, but I still cring at the thought of what might have been in some situations we all got into from time to time.
One of the ‘fun’ accidents we still laugh about was when a good friend came over to help with some carpentry. He was busy nailing, and toenailed an upright to a 4x6 skid. The angle of the nail was such that the nail went right through the 2x6 upright, and unknown to him, through his tennis shoe missing any toes, and on into the 4x6 skid.
When he wanted to step to the next spot, naturally his shoe wouldn’t move, and he almost fell flat on his face.
We’ve laughed about “toenailing” for years.
According to the report, shortly after Parker began his dramatic rescue, a fire broke out. He then did the only thing he could to save his life—sacrifice his right arm.
No doubt it was a tough decision but he had no real choice other than to burn to death. Also, his arm was numb so the pain was not a factor.
I spent weeks researching safety issues on the Net while awaiting delivery of my first tractor.
The dangers of post-hole-diggers and wood chippers can just not be over-stated.
I recently made a mistake while installing the blade top angle hydraulic cylinder, installing it with the wrong end attached to the tractor, permitting a mechanical interference with the cylinder. I only noticed the problem when the blade jammed in the upward position and I saw that the 1" diameter cylinder shaft was bent into a 15% angle.
There is so much force and energy available when using these tools that a life-threatening event can occur in a fraction of a second.
What is really sobering is that so very many of the people who have ever been injured by farm machinery, only got through their initial years by doing the right things most of the time. It takes only ONE inattentive moment to permit the unthinkable to happen.
Agreed.
But as I read the story, it does not say he was sucked into the machine. It says he got stuck in it.
My guess is the machine was off, his arm got jammed in trying to get the packed stalks out. The heat from friction while running had been great enough that the stalks started to burn while he was stuck, and there was no choice but to cut his arm off, not even time to call for help on a cell phone.
“A farmer from Kershaw County, South Carolina, cut off his own arm after it got stuck in a piece of equipment”
Chuck Norris tips his hat.
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