Jimmy Fallon's Finger Injury Was Insane, Gruesome

To fix it, they had to take a vein from his foot
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 14, 2015 10:27 AM CDT
Jimmy Fallon's Finger Injury Was Insane, Gruesome
In this Aug. 25, 2014, file photo, Jimmy Fallon presents an award at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.   (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon spent 10 days in a hospital intensive care unit after tripping in his kitchen and injuring a finger so badly it required six hours of microsurgery to save. The comic was back at work yesterday for the first time following the June 26 accident in his New York home, wearing a cast on his left hand that extended nearly to the fingernail of his ring finger. His wedding ring caught on a surface as he tried to break his fall. "I tripped and fell in our kitchen on a braided rug that my wife loves," he said. "I can't wait to burn it to the ground." His badly bent finger looking like a "horror movie," Fallon took a cab to the emergency room.

He was told what he thought was a broken finger was much more complicated and sent to another hospital. He said he was told that many people with the same injury lose their finger. The complex surgery involved taking a vein from his foot to help repair the finger. Ten days in the hospital made Fallon a little stir-crazy. "I started losing it halfway through," he said. "I started reading books about the meaning of life." He wasn't kidding, as Fallon pulled out a paperback titled Man's Search for Meaning. And he said it crystallized his thoughts about what he should be doing. "This is the meaning of my life," the 40-year-old comic said. "I belong on TV ... if anyone's suffering at all, this is my job. I'm here to make you laugh. I'm here to make you have a good time." (More celebrity stories.)

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