Man Cuts Off Own Arm to Survive

"Through it all he demonstrated a significant amount of courage," says a doctor about a man who saved his own life in a way that is almost unimaginable!

He's a financial analyst named Jonathan Metz and what started out as a simple repair at his home in West Hartford, Connecticut turned into a living nightmare. 

Jonathan had gone down to the basement to work on his furnace. He stuck his hand inside and somehow it got stuck. He lay on the floor stuck there for three days, screaming, to no avail.

To stay alive, Jonathan drank water that dripped from the furnace and on the third day, he realized the only way to survive was to cut off his own arm.

"For him to actually make a substantial cut and go as far as he did is just an amazing story of survival," the doctor told INSIDE EDITION.

Metz passed out before he could complete the amputation, and he would have died if not for a friend who stopped by.

"I popped by to see what was going on," said Luca Degregorio, a friend who had become concerned. He called 911.

Caller: "I'm standing outside my friend's house, no one's heard from him for a couple of days, like he hasn't shown up for work or anything."

Suddenly, cops and firemen were on the scene. When they went inside they were startled to find Jonathan on the basement floor, weak and barely coherent. Freeing Jonathan from the furnace was no easy task.

"We actually used hand tools and we also used a spreader that we would normally use to take a door off a car," a rescue worker told INSIDE EDITION.

Jonathan was rushed to this hospital while neighbors took care of his dog.  His arm could not be re-attached because of a gangrene infection, an infection that surely would have spread and killed Jonathan if he hadn't had the courage to perform surgery on himself.