I Was a Farmer For Most of My Life

When I was in my forties, I was involved in a terrible farm accident that left my hand severely injured. I was harvesting sunflower seeds from my land and was to take the seeds to a nearby elevator. In order to transfer the seeds from my farm to the elevator, I first had to load the seeds into a semi-truck.

I was unloading the sunflower seeds from my grain truck into a grain tub and then into the semi-trailer. However, as this was going on, I remembered I was to obtain a sample of sunflower seeds for inspection by the elevator agent. This was problematic because, unbeknownst to me, the grain truck box was applying downward pressure on the grain tub. That, in turn, brought the auger end up towards the truck shoot opening which was not visible because of all the fluffy sunflower seeds that were obstructing the view of the end of the auger. I went down to pick up a sample of seeds and I was wearing gloves at the time. The gloves had a large collar on them at the wrist. The auger flighting caught the collar of my glove, took the glove and half of my index and middle fingers and the end of my ring finger on my right hand.

After the accident, I was devasted from what had happened. I became very depressed and emotional about the accident. I wondered how I could let something like that happen to me. Scarred for life. Frustrated by the limited options available to me, I got thinking why not try designing rings that resemble fingers that allows for greater function of my hand. I then got busy and designed one finger ring made out of gold. I still had about an inch remaining on my middle and index fingers which I could put a ring on. I loved it!

I then built another ring for my middle finger beside it. When I put the other ring on my finger, it looked so cool to see two gold finger rings on my hand. It looked awesome. Right away, I felt so much better about myself. My depression and anxiety were gone. I had two gold fingers and they looked great, so I decided to make another fingertip for my ring finger that did not need to go down as far as the previous two. This third finger just went past my first knuckle. It was a success on all three fingers. I was ecstatic!

I noticed when I wore the rings it took most of the burning and tingling out of my fingers. Now, anybody who has parts of their fingers gone knows what I am talking about. The nerve endings come rushing down to the end of your finger stump and then they burn and tingle and you get phantom pains. This makes you feel like you have the rest of your fingers that are not actually there. When you put the finger rings on it alleviates most of the burning and nerve-ending sensations. I was very pleased about this. I wear my rings all of the time in exception for when I am doing physical work.

I have people commenting on my rings in public all the time. They love them. A disfigured hand that looks of beauty and is now a highly respected hand wherever I go. It is a great feeling, I love it.

My son Reed is very artistic. He has, and continues to develop, many different finger ring designs and styles. They are awesome looking ring fingers! A huge thank you to Reed for all of his hard work and dedication – you are so greatly appreciated!