A man from Canada has received his own severed leg as a Christmas present this year, CTV News reports.
Justin Fernandes' story begins earlier this year in July, when the then-24-year-old was walking home from work when he was hit by a motorcycle.
Sadly, as a result of the accident, he was hospitalized and his severed right leg was amputated. Justin then spent months in a rehabilitation facility.
Fast forward roughly half a year later and the articulated bones of his lost limb have now been put back into place - only, they're not connected to his body, but rather, a display plinth.
The handiwork was carried by the Prehistoria Natural History Centre (PNHC) in Toronto after they responded to Justin when he turned to a taxidermy page for help.
The PNHC routinely handles animal skeletons for display and also do pet memorials, which typically entail putting the bones back together again.
Speaking to CTV News, Head Director of the PNHC Ben Lovatt said: "We didn't know him when the incident happened... but through the process, we've gotten to know each other quite well and he's kind of become an adopted member of our family here at the museum."
He added: "Everyone heals in their own way from a tragic incident and this incident was a hit and run that left him almost bleeding to death at the side of the road. So he was trying to find some way to have closure, some way to kind of feel whole again, and this was a unique way to do so."
Lovatt provided the service for Justin, entirely for free.
He went on: "We actually had heard that he had reached out to a taxidermy studio who quoted him $15,000 to do his leg. Now, for a frame of reference what $15,000 should get you in terms of bone preparation, I would charge that much to take an entire dead whale off of a beach, tear it down to bone, and mount it up.
"So yeah, it was quite an outrageous request for that much money. So for us, it seemed like it was something we could give back."
Justin spoke about the effort it took to get his leg back, saying: "I had to get a custom waiver to get it released. If you can picture this, I'm just in this hospital, I don't even have a prosthetic leg at this point, I'm just hopping around, I'm stuck in bed and I'm sending 100 emails and dozens of phone calls all over the place."
On December 23, just two days before Christmas, Justin was able to see and hold his leg for the first time.
He said: "That was the first time I held my entire leg rearticulated - it was unreal. I have to remind myself that, 'Hey, that's your leg, you walked on that'. It's hard."
"To me, turning that morbid, sad object that people would just dispose of and forget, I wanted to turn it into art basically, and that's what I see, when I see it, art. I think it's beautiful."
