Builder Saws Off Thumb, Surgeons Reattach Big Toe In Its Place [VIDEO]

What would you do if surgeons couldn’t reattach a dismembered finger? Carry on with a greater appreciation for the remaining nine? Watch with empathetic bemusement that episode of ‘Arrested Development’ where Gob Bluth loses multiple digits during a katana-wielding trick illusion gone wrong?

After accidentally lopping off his own thumb, Bristol, UK resident James Byrne chose an alternative solution. Byrne, a 30-year-old builder, sawed off his left thumb during a carpentry accident last December. Months after surgeons failed to re-connect the severed digit, he was presented with a novel idea by Dr. Umraz Kahn of Bristol’s Frenchay Hospital– they used his big toe instead.

Speaking to The Daily Mail, Byrne claimed some folks don’t even realize his thumb is actually a toe, instead mistaking it for a normal, albeit swollen finger. Of course, he’ll still need to adapt to the loss of his big toe, explained Dr. Kahn. Using the new thumb is also a struggle, said Byrne, admitting he can’t quite bend it though has no problem wiggling and rotating it.

Here is video of Byrne showing off his new digit. Heck of a job by the doc. Thumbs up.

[Daily Mail via Gizmodo]