A Vermont skydiver who lost his prosthetic leg during a jump has it back, thanks to a farmer who kept an eye out for it and spotted it in a soybean field.
Double amputee Chris Marckres jumped out of a plane in Vermont with two prosthetic legs Saturday and much to his surprise, landed with only one.
“I never knew I lost a leg until about 20 seconds before we were supposed to land,” he said. “It was just so overwhelming, losing my prosthetic was about the last thing on my mind.”
After he landed, he and the skydiving crew searched the area but could not find it.
Marckres put out a desperate plea on social media and farmer Joe Marszalkowski answered.
“I went out to the field to fly the drone around to look for it and didn’t find it with the drone and walked around on foot for several hours and it was getting dark, was walking back to my truck and that’s when I spotted the limb,” Marszalkowski explained.
The prosthetic is worth about $15,000 and it was not damaged.
Since their unusual encounter, Marckres and Marszalkowski have become friends. The two have made a vow to go skydving together in the fall. Though this time, Marckres said he will be sure to secure his leg a little tighter.
“I had a meeting yesterday with my prosthetics and he’s working on a harness system that will attach to my belt and clamp on,” he said.
Both men said the whole experience has given them hope.
“Don’t ever give up hope and have a little faith in humanity, there are a lot of great people out there still,” Marckres said.
“I wish more people would step out on their own to help their fellow Americans, for no benefit, for no reward other than the fact that there’s a lot of people out there that could really use an extra hand, if you just volunteer yourself here and there, you can make such a huge impact on somebody’s life,” Marszalkowski added.
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