People who hacked off own limbs – from real life 127 Hours man to bear attack survivor – Daily Star
*** WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT *** From a bloke who made a guillotine to chop off his own hand before tossing in a fire to a woman who did the same thing using a saw – meet the people who severed their own limbs
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If you had to slice off your own arm in order to save your life – would you be able to do it?
This is the terrifying reality some of the people mentioned below had to face up to when death stared them in the face.
However, others decided to hack away a limb for the sake of a few quid. And here, we feature four men and women who carried out brutal amputations on themselves.
READ MORE: Gang of monkeys rip out boy's intestines as animals unleash series of grim attacks
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Last week we brought you the news of a brave bloke who cut off his own arm after a hungry black bear clamped its teeth around it.
The Swizz man, 32, named locally as Stefan Claudio Specogna, was volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary in Thailand when he made the life or death decision. He got stuck after reaching into the cage to leave a food tray for the animal.
He used a pocket knife to sever his own bloodied limb below the elbow in order to escape and locals in Mueang Ngai later told the press how he was a hero for not harming the bear.
Stefan was taken to hospital but it is not known whether his arm will be reattached. The bear meanwhile was rescued in 2013 after getting lost outside a forest.
It has now been just over 20 years since Aron Ralston was trapped underneath a massive 363kg boulder that landed on his arm after a canyoneering accident.
The former mechanical engineer became stranded in the wilderness for five days where he drank his own urine to survive – but it’s what he did to somehow escape that caught the attention of Hollywood.
Desperate to live, Aron broke his own bones before using a multi-tool knife with a dull blade to amputate his arm while 100 feet below the desert surface of the Bluejohn Canyon in Utah, US.
He later gave an interview to Daily Star about slicing through his flesh and bone and he said: “As I was cutting my arm off, I was smiling. I felt that smile on my face.
“And if it’s possible for me to smile as I’m doing the most painful thing that is ever going to happen to me, there’s potential for anything in life.”
His extraordinary story was later made into a Hollywood film called 127 Hours starring James Franco. Aron meanwhile is now an author and motivational speaker.
Brace yourselves, this next example is truly bonkers…
Mark Goddard was so desperate to ease the pain he was suffering from a previous motorcycle crash that he built a guillotine to chop off his own hand before tossing it in a fire.
The dad, from Devon, had spent 16 years complaining of the agony but took matters into his own hands when the NHS refused an amputation.
He used planks of wood, elastic chords and an axe to build his execution device before the blade sliced his wrist clean off before he burned his hand to make sure it would not be able to be reattached.
Speaking in 2014, he said: “I should not have to go to such extremes to get my pain stopped. There was an alternative and that was having it done properly in hospital. But no one would do anything to help me – so I did it myself.
“I got rid of it because they told me they had problems amputating my arm with a good hand on it. So I took it off myself and now there is no reason why they can't operate."
However, he also said he was still suffering from pain after his self-mutilation.
Julija Adlešič used a circular saw to slice off her own left hand – but her life was in no danger when she did it.
The bizarre reason the young Slovenian woman did such an unthinkable thing was because she hoped she would pocket a £925,000 insurance payout.
She even left her hand at home when she rushed to hospital with her grisly injuries so that it could not be reattached.
However, rather than land a big payday, she instead landed herself in prison after being found guilty of attempted insurance fraud in 2020. Her boyfriend and his parents also pled guilty for their involvement in the scam.
During the court proceedings, Julija said: “No one wants to be crippled. My youth has been destroyed. I lost my hand at the age of 20. Only I know what happened.”
The one-handed crook was released in 2022 and in images posted on Instagram she seemed to be deliberately concealing her left arm.
