Myron Schlafman a Jamestown, North Dakota former Vietnam vet cuts his own arm off after getting hand stuck in meat grinder in life and death dilemma.
A former Vietnam vet has told of being forced to sever his own arm after getting his hand stuck in a meat grinder while making sausage at his North Dakota home.
Upon realizing his hand was gone, Myron Schlafman, 69, said he was forced to cut off his left arm above the wrist with a butcher knife or risk bleeding to death.
Following the August 17 accident, Myron said he credited two police officers with saving his life by quickly applying a tourniquet before ambulance crews took him to the hospital.
‘I’ve always appreciated life, but not as much as I do now,’ he told KFGO radio.
Schlafman said he was taking a chunk of meat out of the mixer in the garage of his Jamestown home when he accidentally stepped on a pedal to activate the machine.
‘When my arm went in there, that must have been instant shock,’ said Schlafman who is right handed. ‘I just looked and knew I was in big trouble.’
Adding, ‘I just looked and knew I was in big trouble’.
The bone was severed, but his arm was still caught by muscle, nerves and skin. He grabbed the knife, which was within reach, and cut himself free.
‘If I would have hesitated, I would have stood right there and bled to death,’ he said.
Schlafman spent nine days in the hospital, undergoing three surgeries. He will be fitted with a prosthetic in a few months, after the stump on his left arm has fully healed.
‘It would be very easy to sit back, feel sorry for myself and get depressed,’ the former soldier said. ‘I went through Vietnam. I can handle this.’
(Man who lost hand in sausage-making ordeal cut off own arm)
In his first public comments since the Aug. 17 accident, Myron Schlafman… – https://t.co/7dO6iZeM9h pic.twitter.com/jQ7kYT42ah
— geopost 24/7 (@gooshi2000) September 27, 2018
