PWD People Of The Year: The Toe-Thumb Boy And A Newspaper Headline Writer

When Marlton’s Zachary Buono’s thumb and two other fingers were blown off by an M-80 in 2005, he didn’t say goodbye to his thumb forever. No, he had an operation to move his big toe to replace his thumb.

He was even pumped about it! “It doesn’t look like a toe on a hand — it looks like a finger on a hand.” (You can be your own judge.) Some did think it still looked like a toe, but a little experiment revealed thumbs can indeed look like big toes.

As for the owner of New Jersey’s most famous thumb, well, he just wants to remember the dead:

[Doctor] Fuller described Buono as an “inspiration” to other patients who have watched his consistently positive attitude. During Monday’s appointment, Fuller said the boy even took time to express sadness over Sept. 11 victims.

As I wrote at the time: “Excuse me, doc, but now’s the time in the appointment I’d like to set aside for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Please join me in a moment of silence and then we can get back to my thumb.” Although maybe that should have been “toe.”

Another one of the People of the Year is whoever wrote the story’s headline: He lost a toe, but gained a thumb.

Philadelphia Will Do People of the Year | The List So Far
Sept. 12: Losing 3 Fingers Does Not Make One Forget 9/11

PWD Special Investigation: Thumbs

Yesterday’s story about the boy who had his toe transplanted to replace his late thumb pretty much elicited the same reaction from anyone who saw it. Everyone was in awe of the kid’s good spirits and the technological marvel of the operation, but we all also wanted to know just how the boy would live with a toe replacing where his thumb used to be. Doesn’t it look weird?

Well, sure, a little, but apparently no weirder than actual, live human thumbs. While tossing around the ol’ pigskin at the Philadelphia Will Do Devil’s Pocket bureau yesterday (read: a friend’s house), the thumb story came up, and a friend of mine was like, “My thumbs look like toes.”

It was time for a pseudoscientific experiment. Using the photo of the thumb-toe, my friend’s actual thumb and my thumb (the control variable), we made up this chart for your perusal:

Conclusion: Sure, the transplanted toe kind of looks like a toe, but clearly there are thumbs that look more like toes than it. Thankfully, this kid in Jersey’s gonna be okay.

Yesterday: Losing 3 Fingers Does Not Make One Forget 9/11

The Toe-Becomes-Thumb Story Has Gone National

Okay, so it was just a report syndicated from 6 ABC, but there it is, for the nation and world to see, video of the toe that became a thumb. Huzzah, huzzah.

Video: Toe Becomes Thumb [CNN.com]
Yesterday: Losing 3 Fingers Does Not Make One Forget 9/11

Losing 3 Fingers Does Not Make One Forget 9/11

When Marlton’s Zachary Buono lost three fingers on his left hand in a firecracker accident last April, he did what any red-, white- and blue-blooded American would do: Bucked up, wished his index and middle fingers goodbye and got an operation to replace his thumb with his big toe.

Bully for him. I know if I lost my fingers in a freak accident involving static electricity, an M-80 and my bedroom, the last thing I’d considering doing is being upbeat about it. But Buono is, and I wish him luck, although I don’t know if “it doesn’t look like a toe on a hand — it looks like a finger on a hand.” (Maybe.)

But the 14-year-old Buono isn’t only upbeat, he’s sympathetic to others:

[Doctor] Fuller described Buono as an “inspiration” to other patients who have watched his consistently positive attitude. During Monday’s appointment, Fuller said the boy even took time to express sadness over Sept. 11 victims.

I really like how the doctor says he “even took time.” I’ll imagine the conversation went something like this: “Excuse me, doc, but now’s the time in the appointment I’d like to set aside for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Please join me in a moment of silence and then we can get back to my thumb.”

He lost a toe, but gained a thumb [Camden Courier Post]
Editor’s Note: This ranks among my favorite headlines of all time.