A man in Canada received the articulated leg bones he lost in an accident just in time for Christmas.
CTV News reports that Justin Fernandes, 24, expressed a desire to keep his right leg separate as a symbol of the struggles he overcame.
“This was basically my closure,” he told the news station. “This is how I wanted to suffer.”
Fernandes had lost his leg in July after a motorcycle hit him while he was returning home. The impact separated the leg from its body, resulting in months of rehabilitation. He said he has only recently been able to walk.
Now, Fernandes has to look at the front leg to remember how far he has come.
“For me, to become that morbid and sad object that people just throw away and forget, I wanted to basically transform it into art, and that’s what I see when I see it, art”, explains Fernandes. “I think it’s beautiful.”
This work was commissioned for the first time by Fernandes when he played on a taxidermy website on the treatment of the leg. The Prehistoria Natural History Center (PNHC) – a natural sciences and archaeological museum in downtown Toronto – saw his comment and contacted Fernandes to start collaborating on the effort, believing he was the best candidate for the job due to his long experience in organizing the animals’ bones back to their original shape.
After obtaining a specific dispensation to obtain the leg and green light from the hospital to continue the project, representatives of the PNHC restructured the shattered bones in their original form. And they did everything for free.
Fernandes was able to see the finished leg on Wednesday, stating that it is a reminder that even after suffering the tragedy, “[one’s] life is not over. “