Teen lost 3 fingers in a ‘freak' firework mishap — but saved his arm thanks to ‘Forrest Gump'
Andrew Stratton, 18, told WKYT that he knows he's lucky to be alive after a firework went off prematurely in his left hand while he was hanging with buddies a few days before July Fourth.
It blew off his three middle fingers and part of his thumb — but could have been worse if he didn't tie his belt around his arm to slow the bleeding, a trick he learned from a dramatic scene in the 1994 movie in which Tom Hanks plays Forrest Gump.
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3 He lost fingers and part of his thumb because of the fireworks mishap.
WKYT
'Forrest Gump tourniquet Lieutenant Dan's leg so that's what I thought to do, man, just take my belt off, wrap it around my arm as tight as I could,' said the recent high school graduate from Frankfort.
Stratton, known as Andi, met friends after his construction job and got out of his car to light the firework that was just handed to him, according to a fundraiser set up by a family friend.
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But the firework exploded within seconds.
'There was no 'horseplaying' or negligence on Andi's part… simply a freak accident,' the fundraiser stated.
'But the damage had already been done; most of Andi's left hand was gone.'
3 He credited an acclaimed 1994 film for saving his arm.
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He also might have lost his eyesight if he weren't wearing his Oakley sunglasses, though some firework debris scratched his corneas from the blast.
Video of the stomach-turning accident was taped and then spread across social media.
'You can hear Andy in the background screaming 'somebody help' and all the while somebody is standing there filming him essentially saving his own life because someone decided it was better to videotape it than to help him,' Stratton's mother Shawna Bowman told WKYT.
3 He spent 12 days in the hospital.
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Stratton had a 12-day hospital stay and is still facing the possibility of losing his entire hand.
'Just going to leave it up to God, just going to pray on it,' Stratton told the station.
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