A man in Canada received the joint bones of the bone he lost in an accident just in time for Christmas.
CTV News reports that Justin Fernandes (24) expressed the desire to keep his separated right leg as a symbol of the struggle he has overcome.
“It was basically my closure,” he told the news station. “This is how I wanted to grieve.”
Fernandes lost his leg in July after a motorcycle hit him as he was walking home. The impact cut off the leg from his body, resulting in months of rehabilitation. He said he could only walk recently.
Fernandes has his previous leg to look at to remind himself of how far he has come.
“For me, when I change that morbid, sad object that people would just throw away and forget, I basically wanted to turn it into art, and that’s what I see when I see it, art,” Fernandes explained. “I think it’s beautiful.”
This artwork was first used by Fernandes when he joked on a taxidermy page on the internet about the treatment of his leg. The Prehistoria Natural History Center (PNHC) – a natural science and archeology museum in downtown Toronto – sees his comments and reaches out to Fernandes to work together on the effort, believing they are the best candidate for the job because of their extensive experience in rearranging the bones of animals into their original form.
After obtaining a specific waiver to get the bone and the green light from the hospital to continue with the project, representatives of the PNHC restructured the broken bones in their original form. And they did it all for free.
Fernandes was able to see the completed leg on Wednesday and said it was a reminder that even after he had a tragedy, ‘[one’s] life is not over. ”