It’s a situation that feels like a nightmare: being completely alone when a catastrophic accident occurs and there’s no one around to help.However, one man’s incredible quick thinking turned the tide in his favor, allowing him to have both arms reattached after a horrific accident on a farm in North Dakota.
Back in 1992, a teenager named John Thompson was working alone when he suffered a devastating accident involving a tractor. The incident led to him losing both of his arms.
Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him, John found the strength to stagger an incredible 100 yards to reach his house and seek help.Using his mouth, he managed to turn the doorknob and make his way inside, determined to survive.
Unable to use the phone in the traditional way due to his injuries, the resourceful teenager miraculously picked up a pencil with his mouth and used it to dial for help.
John lost both arms in the accidentLMN/YouTube
With the pencil, John successfully called his cousin, who lived nearby, in a desperate bid to get assistance.Remarkably composed despite his injuries, he even made his way to the bathroom, concerned about bleeding on his mother’s carpet.
Against all odds, he survived the ordeal and underwent a six-hour-long surgical procedure that allowed both his arms to be reattached.
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More than 30 years after that fateful day, John still vividly remembers every moment of what happened.He recounted in a documentary how his shirt tails got tangled in the tractor’s power shaft as he tried to free himself.
“It got wrapped in with the power shaft. The next thing I know, everything is dark and I’m feeling funny.”
In the decades since the accident, John has had time to reflect on the fame and attention that followed his remarkable story.He admitted: “That was probably the hardest thing I had to deal with, was the notoriety,”
Talking about his struggles, he shared: “I keep trying to get away from it, but I have nowhere else to go, so I just keep going back to it. I can’t find nothing else,”
Adding to this, he mentioned: “I try doing other things and they just haven’t worked out. It always comes back to people knowing me and wanting to use me.”
In an interview with the Star Tribune, he said: “I keep trying to get away from it, but I have nowhere else to go, so I just keep going back to it. I can’t find nothing else,”
“I try doing other things and they just haven’t worked out. It always comes back to people knowing me and wanting to use me.”Today, John has regained some mobility in his arms. However, his hands remain in clenched fists unless he manually opens them.
While his surgeon has suggested prosthetic hands to improve his functionality, John has declined, saying he doesn’t want to lose his sense of touch, which remains incredibly important to him.
