From Iceland — Man Who Shot Self In Leg 30 Years Ago Faces Amputation

Man Who Shot Self In Leg 30 Years Ago Faces Amputation

Published January 6, 2014

A man who accidentally shot himself in the leg over 30 years ago can no longer bear the pain, and is seeking an amputation.

Vísir (warning: graphic photos) reports that Konráð Ragnarsson (above, left) told reporters that the shotgun-induced injury was the result of carelessness.

“I had been hunting ptarmigans the day before,” he told reporters. “I didn’t take care of the gun when I came home. I was very tired, which makes you careless. I just put [the gun] in my closet. The next day, I remembered I hadn’t taken care of the gun, took it out of the closet, and heard bam! Then I felt this incredible pain, and I realised that I had probably shot myself.”

Konráð’s lower left leg was almost completely shot off by the gun, as it “hung on by the skin”. Fortunately, his brother was home and called the police, who arrived with an ambulance.

Since that day, Konráð has made a name for himself, as both a photographer and an actor, without letting his badly damaged leg get in the way. However, the pain has been harder to ignore lately, and other complications have since arisen.

“I feel like I’m running out of time,” he told reporters. “I have prostate cancer, have had it for five years, and have been taking radiation therapy for it.”

At the advice of his doctor, Konráð told reporters, he has had to admit to himself that the “great struggle” to keep his leg has been lost. “It has been an incredible fight,” he said.

Below, you can see a music video Konráð recently starred in – Alan Doyle’s “Testify”.

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