Jason Pierre-Paul’s road back to the NFL is still pretty remarkable. After a fireworks accident on Independence Day, the Giants’ star pass rusher was left with an amputated index finger, along with several other injuries to his right hand.
Pierre-Paul hasn’t said much about the incident, but he opened up a little with a Q+A with Steve Serby of the New York Post. He discussed many aspects of his life, touching on things like becoming a father, but spent a lot of time talking about his injury. According to Pierre-Paul, there was no fear or pain when the entire ordeal happened.
Q: When the incident first happened, how scary was it for you?
A: It wasn’t scary at all. I just went straight to the hospital. Didn’t panic, no nothing, I just went straight to the hospital.Q: You knew right away that you had to go?
A: Yeah.Q: Who took you there?
A: One of my friends took me there.Q: How painful was it?
A: It wasn’t painful at all. It was no pain, no nothing at the time. I was just like, “I gotta get my hand treated.”Q: Was there a lot of blood?
A: Yeah, I think it was. I lost a lot of blood, yeah.Q: If you lost a lot of blood, why wouldn’t you be scared?
A: I see too many movies, man (chuckle). I wasn’t in shock or nothing. I just lost a lot of blood.
Pierre-Paul also said that he was in and out of consciousness for “a couple days.” When it came to getting his hand amputated, which the doctors recommended, JPP wouldn’t even entertain the idea.
Q: Why did you tell the doctor not to cut your hand?
A: It’s easier to take a shortcut out. I knew for a fact that my hand … I might say it’s severely damaged or whatever, but I knew it wasn’t that bad, like I can still play football.
Q: When you said you told the doctor not to cut your hand, you mean the whole hand?
A: Yeah.
Q: You were afraid that he would cut the whole hand off?
A: Yeah. Even the doctors counted me out. They were like, “Yeah, we’re gonna have to cut his whole hand off” and, you know …
Q: Before you passed out, that’s what you heard them saying?
A: Yeah. “I don’t think we’ll be able to save it.” I knew that that wasn’t the best hospital to be at.
This seems like it would be a horrifying experience for most people, but Pierre-Paul admirably faced this head-on.
(via New York Post)
