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Melo Hairapetian was trimming wood one day when the unthinkable happened: in a matter of seconds, the saw made a quick and powerful cut across the palm of his hand.
His thumb was gone and his pinky was dangling. “My knee buckled, caught my jacket and pulled my hand right through the circular saw,” Melo said.
Doctors tried to salvage his thumb, but it didn’t take because the finger and joint were too badly damaged.
A few months later, the 45-year-old opted for Plan B, a rare procedure to replace the missing thumb with one of his own toes. “I need a thumb. I can’t live with just three fingers on one hand.
You can’t do anything. You can’t pick up, you can’t brush your teeth, you can’t put deodorant on, can’t do a button, can’t do a zipper. I knew right away I had to have it,”Melo said.