51 Years After Accident, 7-Inch Car Part Found in Arm

AP arthur lampitt 2 kab 150101 16x9 992 resized 600

Fifty-one years ago, Arthur Lampitt of Granite City, Illinois, smashed his 1963 Thunderbird into a truck. This week during surgery in suburban St. Louis, a 7-inch turn signal lever from that T-Bird was removed from his left arm.

Dr. Timothy Lang removed the lever Wednesday during a 45-minute operation. Lampitt, now 75, is recovering at home.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ( http://bit.ly/1EOtGa6 ) reports that the accident broke Lampitt's hip, drawing attention away from the arm, which healed.

A decade or so ago, his arm set off a metal detector at a courthouse. An X-ray showed a slender object the length of a pencil, but since it caused no pain or hardship, Lampitt was told to let it be.

He was moving concrete blocks a few weeks ago when the arm began to hurt for the first time.

"Everything was fine until it started to get bigger," Lampitt's wife, Betty, said. "The arm started bulging."

Lampitt decided to have surgery. He initially wasn't sure what was in the arm. He wondered if perhaps a medical instrument had been left during the emergency room visit in 1963.

He unearthed a collection of old photos of the mangled Thunderbird taken by a friend at the scene. He noticed the metal blinker lever was missing from the left side of the steering column. He figured that was it, and surgery at City Place Surgery Center in Creve Coeur, Missouri, confirmed it.

"Seven inches long," Lang told Betty.

"Oh, my God," Betty said.

Lang said a protective pocket grew around the lever.

"We see all kinds of foreign objects like nails or pellets, but usually not this large, usually not a turn signal from a 1963 T-Bird," Lang said. "Something this large often gets infected."

Lampitt wasn't sure what he'd do with the lever ? maybe make a key chain out of it.

"We'll figure out something, I am sure," he said.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com

Recent Posts

Starting Nursing School: What to Expect and How to Prepare
Congratulations! The decision to begin Nursing school is not only brave, it's life-changing. As a Nurse, I know the butterflies (and possibly the nerves) that come with this big leap. Whether you’re...
Read More
The Nurse-Patient Bond: Building Trust in the Hardest Moments
In Nursing, there are moments when the clock seems to slow down, not because the shift is quiet, but because the weight of the situation demands your full presence. Whether it’s holding a patient’s...
Read More
Frontier Nursing University Recognized for Excelling in Mental Health and Well-Being Offerings
Versailles, Ky., August 6, 2025 — Frontier Nursing University (FNU) has received the 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award from Insight Into Academia magazine, the largest and oldest...
Read More

Subscribe to Email Our Newsletter

Education_Award_Square