Giants’ Jason Pierre-Paul talks about July 4 accident that nearly cost him his hand

When Jason Pierre-Paul went to the emergency room on July 4, his right hand was so badly damaged from a fireworks accident that doctors wanted to cut it off.

But before passing out, the New York Giants’ sack specialist told them not to.

The New York Post’s Steve Serby talked to Pierre-Paul for an interview that posted on Sunday, and got the 26-year old to share a few details about what happened that day, though Pierre-Paul stopped short of telling the full story.

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: 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.

 Q: And when you got to the hospital, you went right to the emergency room?
A: Yeah ER.

Q: ER?
A: Yeah. Then I passed out.

Q: You passed out?
A: Yeah. I just told the doctor not to cut my hand and passed out.

Q: How long did you pass out for?
A: Probably a couple days, man. I was in and out a couple of days.

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.

Q: When you woke up, what was your reaction to what they told you had to be done?
A: To be continued, man.

Q: Come on, we’re live on CNN right now, come on.
A: No we’re not. That’s a story I’m gonna give at the end of the season. That’s a big story right there.

Pierre-Paul then tried to steer the conversation back to football, saying, “We’ll see,” when asked if he might get his first sack of the season Sunday against the Jets, adding that he had a great week of practice. His confidence is high, he said, the Giants’ confidence as a team is high, and everyone knows they “gotta win the game” to keep their playoff hopes alive.