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What would you do to save your own life, if your arm was trapped and you had no way to free it?
Jonathan Metz of Connecticut, was faced with this decision and decided to cut off his own arm in order free himself after being trapped under his furnace for three days.
Metz became trapped while doing repair work on the furnace and dropped a tool. As he reached for it his arm became wedged and he couldn't pull it out.
He yelled for help for three days, but nobody could hear him. He survived by drinking water from his boiler. As his arm began to get badly infected he made the decision that doctors say saved his life. He sawed his arm off just below the shoulder with tools he could grab.
Metz's arm was decaying from a lack of blood flow, going into a "gangrenous state," Dr. Scott Ellner, a trauma doctor at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center told the Hartford Courant. The infection could have started to spread throughout his entire body.
"It was the right thing to do," Ellner said. "This man saved his own life."
Luca DiGregorio a friend on Metz' softball team went to his home after Metz failed to show up for a game. After finding Metz car and dog, but not Metz he called police who found him conscious in his basement.
By that point his arm was almost completely amputated. After working 25 minutes taking apart the furnace, rescue workers finished the amputation.
Doctors say his arm can't be reattached, but are hopeful he can be fitted with a prosthetic arm.
"He's a young, healthy guy," Ellner said. "His strength is just so inspiring."
The doctor added that he'd never seen anything like this in his ten years practicing medicine.
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