Farmer Returns Prosthetic Leg Lost by Vermont Skydiver During Jump

Chris Marckres, a skydiver and double amputee, lost something unexpected during a jump over West Addison, Vermont on Saturday: one of his legs. Luckily, the prosthetic was spotted a day later and held onto by a nearby soybean farmer, Joe Marszalkowski, who was able to return it a few days later.

“I think my adrenaline was so high and I was just so excited, I didn’t realize I had lost it,” Marckres said in an interview with NBC10 Boston.

Marckres posted about the lost limb on Facebook, asking for its return if anyone in the area happened to find it. Marszalkowski happened to see the post before stumbling upon the prosthetic in one of his bean fields. The leg was said to be in fine condition, save for a few new scratches.

“You've always got to keep an eye out,” Marszalkowski said. “It was literally a needle in a haystack as far as trying to find it . … I was very grateful to have found it without running it over with a machine this fall during harvest. Or, God forbid, the combine sucked it up — it would've destroyed it.”

Despite losing the vital prosthetic, Marckres was able to land safely on Saturday as he was harnessed to an instructor. He said that the whole ordeal ultimately turned into a positive experience.

“I can't thank everybody enough, especially Joe,” Marckres said. “We kind of take for granted sometimes how many truly good people there still are in the world.”