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When he realized he couldn't get the arm off, he leaned against a wood pile, tightened the tourniquet again and resumed calling for help. Every five minutes, he said, his microwave would beep, reminding him that the leftovers he had been reheating for a late-night snack were ready. He said the chirps tortured him at first, but they later became a source of strength, telling him he had made it through another five minutes. He made one final thrust at the boiler and was able to open its release valve, sending a brackish, rust-colored water onto the floor. He scooped it into his mouth with a flip-flop he had been wearing. "It was just enough to at least mentally make me feel like, here's a way out of this," he said. He said thoughts of his fiancee, family, friends and his little beagle, Portia, also kept him going. Friends and co-workers at The Travelers, where Metz works in financial services, grew worried when he did not show up for work Tuesday and missed a softball game. When Metz did not answer the doorbell at his home Wednesday, June 9, a friend called police, who found Metz in the basement. Firefighters ripped apart the furnace with heavy tools, including a spreader normally used to take the door off a car. Once they did, the arm just gave way. His doctors said Metz is doing well. They hope to fit him for a prosthetic arm in the next month. The family has set up a website -- http://helpjonmetz.com/
-- to collect donations to help pay the costs that insurance will not cover. Metz said he is not feeling sorry for himself. He plans to get married, eventually go back to work, back to playing softball, back to his hobby of building furniture. There will be no more procrastinating, he said. "In the short term, it's going to be difficult," he said. "But in the long term, boy, if you need a kick in the pants to get you to tackle, take on those dreams or whatever your aspirations are, this was it."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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