Farmer Cuts Off 'Melting' Arm With Knife

[ELKCHSR]

Farmer Cuts Off 'Melting' Arm With Knife

A South Carolina man whose hand got stuck in a corn harvester has revealed how he cut off his own arm with a penknife after the machine caught fire.

Mr Parker on NBC's Today ShowSampson Parker, who farms as a hobby, said he took the desperate measure after feeling his hand start to melt "like plastic".

When Mr Parker tried to remove a cornstalk stuck in the rusty harvester, his gloved hand got caught in the mechanism.

"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 NBC's Today Show.

With his hand firmly jammed, Mr Parker called for help - but no-one was around.

After an hour and half his hand went numb and in desperation he pushed a rod into the machine to stop the rollers and and started cutting away his fingers with his penknife.

However, the harvester grinding against the iron rod sparked a fire.

He used his free hand to fight the flames 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.

Mr Parker shows NBC how he cut off his arm"I could feel the nerves as I was cutting my arm off," he recalled.

"I just told myself 'I'm not going to die here'. And then when I did get loose, I jumped up running, I had blood squirting from my arm."

Mr Parker ran to his van and drove to the front of his home just as firefighter Doug Spinks passed by. Mr Spinks wrapped his arm and called for help.

The farmer said he was now doing well and was trying 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.

 

[IDHunters]

Really should shut off the harvestor before sticking your hand into the machine. Thats basic farm safety.

A local farmer here crawled up onto his beet puller and the PTO slipped into gear pulling his feet into the rollers. He held on and actually smoked the PTO on the tractor holding himself up. Fortunately his brother was in the nearby field and saw it, and got the tractor shut off. Only cost the guy a couple toes and a small piece of his foot. He got lucky.

 

[Whiskers]

Machinery like that scares the bejeus's out of me. Anytime I am working around chains, augers, winches, I make sure everything is disconnected, and safetys are in place. I ain loosing no body parts to save two minutes.

 

[schmalts]

farming is and always has been a very high risk occupation. Those guys are always losing digits, rolling tractors, ect.

 

[Moosie]

I don't know if I could cut my own arm off.. I'm a puss !!!

My dad was Cutting Wood and Cleared some Bark from the Chainsaw when I was in school. He didn't turn off the chainsaw and it went VarOOMMMMright as his one hand holding the trigger slipped and he dropped it all and Grabbed his hands. He was Wearing Leather Gloves and looked at me and said he was scared to look. He finally did and he counted all 10 fingers. I was sure he would have had only 7 or 8 if lucky.

Anyway, WOW, things happen fast !!!

 

[noharleyyet]

Moosie, I count my fingers after shaking a lawyer's hand.

 

[schmalts]

soon we will read about Greenhorn cutting his own arm off when he awoke from a night drinking at the blue goose, and found his arm trapped and lifeless under a Gardiner fatty.

 

[hntrjohn]

Seems ike every 3 years or so somebody around us gets run through a corn chopper.
verything about 1 ich and smaller peices.