MORGANTOWN — Retired coal miner Mark Lance was working with his son at his farm, cutting branches that were overhanging the house. Lance was the ground man holding the rope while his son cut the branches.
“A branch came down, the rope wrapped around my thumb and actually extracted my thumb,” he said. “Pulled my thumb off.”
Dr. Tom McClellan couldn’t save the thumb. However, he was working on something that could still help Lance after losing his thumb.