Man Cuts Off Own Arm

[Mags 112]

A man whose hand got caught in a corn harvester cut off his own arm with a pocket knife after the machine started a brush fire.

"I just told myself, 'I'm not going to die here,'" Sampson Parker said Monday on NBC's "Today Show."

"I just kept fighting, kept praying. And then when I did get loose, I jumped up running, I had blood squirting from my arm," he said of the September incident. "It was pretty scary there for a while."

Parker, a construction supervisor in Kershaw County about 20 miles east of Columbia, farms as a hobby. When he tried to remove a cornstalk stuck in the rusty harvester, his hand became stuck.

"I went up with my hand, and the roller that takes the shucks off the corn had grabbed the glove and pulled my hand into the rollers," he told WIS-TV in Columbia.

Parker called for help, but no one was around.

After about 90 minutes, his hand went numb. He jammed a rod into the machine and started cutting away his fingers, but the rod and machine sparked a fire. He used his free hand to fight the fire but knew he was in even more trouble.

"My skin was melting," he said. "Like melting plastic."

It was then that he cut off his arm to free himself.

"I could feel the nerves as I was cutting my arm off," he recalled.

Parker ran to his truck and drove to the front of his home about the time firefighter Doug Spinks passed by. Spinks wrapped Parker's arm and called for help.

Parker said he is doing fine now and has tried to put the ordeal behind him.

"It really wasn't the corn picker's fault. It was my fault. It was just a mistake I made," he said.

Parker did not immediately return a telephone message Monday from The Associated Press.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa...t.404e2b3b.html

[Nagishkaw 510]

Oh my goodness!

[Marilyn. 340]

oh i knew i shouldn't click on this thread but I couldn't stop myself

[Nessa 23]

oh gross

[MissStacey 1]

Wow. That must have been horrifying.

He did what he had to do in order to survive.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It never ceases to amaze me, the human capacity for survival. As gruesome as that may seem, under those same circumstances, I think a lot of us would have done the same to survive.

[Mags 112]

His arm was mostly numb too, so he couldn't feel it...that much. Still makes me shudder though.

[LoriLawless 1]

[mawilson 2,133]

It never ceases to amaze me, the human capacity for survival. As gruesome as that may seem, under those same circumstances, I think a lot of us would have done the same to survive.

Absolutely! I'd cut off your arm in a second if my life was threatened!

[Amby 490]

that's gross but he survived wow

[Ban Hammer 14,569]

It never ceases to amaze me, the human capacity for survival. As gruesome as that may seem, under those same circumstances, I think a lot of us would have done the same to survive.

Absolutely! I'd cut off your arm in a second if my life was threatened!

i'd hesitate on mags though, she's got attack cats.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It never ceases to amaze me, the human capacity for survival. As gruesome as that may seem, under those same circumstances, I think a lot of us would have done the same to survive.

Absolutely! I'd cut off your arm in a second if my life was threatened!

A courageous act indeed. Especially if I still have my other arm to threaten you with.

Edited November 27, 2007 by Mister Fancypants

[Sinergy 3]

i think it felt it more than he did

[Ban Hammer 14,569]

It never ceases to amaze me, the human capacity for survival. As gruesome as that may seem, under those same circumstances, I think a lot of us would have done the same to survive.

Absolutely! I'd cut off your arm in a second if my life was threatened!

A courageous act indeed. Especially if I still have my other arm to threaten you with.

it's just a flesh wound steven. now throw the holy hand grenade at him!

[SteveLaura 0]

Parker did not immediately return a telephone message Monday from The Associated Press.

Maybe he was driving and couldn't take his hand off the wheel.