This Man Had A Metal Indicator Stalk In His Arm For 51 Years

A seven-inch indicator stalk has been taken out of a 75-year-old’s arm after the piece of metal lodged itself into his body in 1963.

The indicator - which belonged to a 1963 T-Bird - entered Arthur Lampitt’s arm after a head-on crash with a truck.

His broken ribs and shattered hip drew medical attention away from his scratched arm, and so the limb was never properly examined.

Some 35 years after the crash, Lampitt entered a court room and set off a metal detector. It was only at that moment that he knew of the stalk’s existence, after which he spoke to doctors. Because the foreign object was causing him no pain, the decision was made to leave it where it was.

It took a further 16 years before the indicator stalk was removed after Lampitt felt pain and experienced swelling in his arm while lifting a concrete block.

When the surgeon removed the item after a 45-minute operation, both he and Lampitt were unsure of what the piece was. It was only when Lampitt checked over his old wreck pictures and noticed that the indicator stalk was missing that he put two and two together.