Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery.
After Haans Galassi lost four fingers from a wakeboarding accident, he joked about his fingers turning into “fish food.” That prophecy came true.
On July 14, the Colbert, Wash., man was skurfing — a combination of wakeboarding and surfing — on Idaho’s Priest Lake during a camping trip. But as the boat was about to pull him, the 30-year-old software developer suddenly realized his hand was caught in a loop of towline. He struggled to free his hand before the line tightened. It was too late.
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The towline cut off four of his fingers before he could disentangle himself, he told the Spokane Spokesman-Review. He said there was little pain or blood. A helicopter flew Galassi to a hospital, where the doctors announced only half of his left index finger remained. The rest were gone for good.
Or so it seemed. In September — almost three months after the incident — a man named Nolan Calvin caught a large lake trout about 8 miles north of where Galassi lost his fingers. Inside the fish was a human finger. Calvin called the sheriff’s office.
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The finger was in good enough condition that a print could be obtained; it was a match for one of Galassi’s missing digits. He declined the sheriff’s kind offer to return the finger.
“I’m like, ‘Uhhh, I’m good,’” he told the newspaper. Galassi is receiving therapy for his hand; he said he can still control a steering wheel.