*guitar music*
(Narrator) Sampson Parker has a farm in South Carolina.
In 2007, he had to inflict excruciating pain on himself for the greatest possible reward: life.
He was out working when his corn picker became blocked.
(Sampson) I left the tractor running, and I walked back around the corn picker......
There was a corn stalk stuck and without thinking, reached my arm into the corn picker, grabbed ahold of the corn stalk.....
And pulled down and the corn stalk wouldn't come out. And then I pushed up.
And when I pushed up, the rollers that take the shucks off the corn grabbed my hand my hand was stuck.
Blood started coming down my arm and.....
Chunks of meat and everything. And I couldn't believe what had just happened and I knew I was in trouble.
But I had to block the pain out of my brain. I knew I had somehow to get the machine to stop.
So now I took this pin was able to get it out. The arm is still in here,
And I took this pin out and reached around the side. I was able to jam it between this chain and the tire......
Stopping the machine. I then grabbed a hold of my arm, thinking all I had to do was pull my hand free.
I physically tried to pull my hand off. I put my knees up against here......
And lean back and pull as hard as I could and I couldn't do it. My hand was still stuck.
With the machine being jammed.....
The slip clutch on the side of the machine was throwing sparks. Of course the sparks and dry corn shucks......
It only took about 10 seconds and all the corn shucks was on fire.
And then up inside here, which was still about half full of corn shucks, it was burning.
My arm that was stuck in here, started burning. I could see my skin melting like plastic.
(Narrator) Sampson faced a terrible choice:
(Narrator) Die, or cut off his own arm.
(Sampson) I'd been fighting this machine for hour and a half and it wasn't gonna beat me.
I cried out to God to help me.
I didn't want my family to come down here on the farm and see me burnt to death behind this corn picker.
Without thinking, I reached back, grabbed ahold of my pocketknife. I took the knife and jammed it into the forearm.
And with everything so far, the burning, the hand caught, that was painful.
But when I jammed that knife into my arm and started cutting away the meat, I was screaming.
Cutting those nerves in my arm hurt. I can't explain how it felt.
The tire on the side of machine was burning and the wind was blowing the flames into my face. My hair was starting to burn.
And I started trying to cut the bone.
I only messed with it - just a couple seconds - the tire was like a torch and......
To break the bone, I raised up as high as I could like this.....
And then I dropped to the ground.
Hitting this sharp, sheet metal. Snapping the bone. And when that happened, the tire on the side of machine......
Exploded.
And that was like someone smacked me in the face. And it blew me back away from the machine about five feet on my back.
And I'll never forget I jumped up with blood shooting at the end of my arm. I jumped up running around to my truck thinking:
I'm free. I'm free.
(Narrator) Despite massive blood loss,
(Narrator) Sampson made his way to the nearest road where he was picked up, rushed to hospital and spent the next month recovering.
He believes he fought so hard to survive because of his love for LeAnn, his wife of 22 years.
(LeAnn) The pain that Sampson must have endured is really beyond my imagination
I can't imagine anyone doing what he did.
Even though I know that Sampson is a remarkable person and if he's determined to do something he follows through and does it.
But to me, that's the unimaginable.
(Sampson) Pain was probably my least concern at the time and I was going to do whatever it took to get free.