Skydiver loses prosthetic leg mid-air, gets it back again

Dion Calloway picked up his prosthetic leg from the Sonoma Sheriff’s Office. Image: Facebook/Sonoma Sheriff

A man, who initially lost his leg due to a skydiving accident, had recently lost it again mid-air, as his prosthetic leg went loose during takeoff. Luckily, the next day, he found it intact and undamaged.

Dion Calloway, a skydiver from California, United States, was 10,000 feet above the ground last Sunday, April 21, when he realized that his prosthetic leg — which cost him $15,000 (about P782,000) — flew off, as per NBC last April 22.

“Right out the door, I felt it loosen up. It came off about six inches. I reached back and put it back on and thought it would stay. I flew up to the circle, and I watched it take off,” he was quoted as saying.

The next day, a lumberyard employee found the prosthetic leg on top of a pile of sawdust, still in good condition. Micah Smith, the yard production manager, then called the local sheriff’s office to find its owner, as per the Press Democrat.

Calloway then picked up his prosthetic leg in disbelief, saying, “My leg is in perfect shape — survived 10,000 feet.”

The Sonoma Sheriff posted about the accident and the prosthetic leg pickup on its Facebook page last April 21.

https://www.facebook.com/sonoma.sheriff/posts/2485538838137341

The 39-year-old lost his natural leg during a skydiving incident two years ago. “What I tried to do was like a high-speed landing and just messed up,” he said as per NBC. The skydiver’s heel then “exploded” from the impact.

Losing his leg for the second time, however, did not faze him, as he plans to skydive again next weekend. Calloway said he will be taking precautions to protect his prosthetic leg the next time.

Calloway had jumped almost 500 times since 2003, as per Press Democrat. “Skydiving is my everything and the people I do it with are my family,” he said. “I always seem to come back to it.” Casey Eridio/JB

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