A MOM of five who lost two fingers in a freak accident is now being harassed online by a fetish community.
She receives daily contact from people who cut off their own fingers and get sexual kicks from her disability.
Natasha Baggett, 31, lost two fingers in a woodwork accident in May of 2019 and has since faced horrific harassment online.
After losing her middle and index fingers, as well as the top of her thumb on her right hand, she quickly adapted to life with just eight digits.
She was even given a robotic hand through her insurance.
The South Seattle native said: “It seems such a small thing to lose fingers compared to other limbs, but you need your fingers for everything.”
The accident also brought on other burdens.
“I thought not having my fingers would be the hardest part, but it's actually dealing with these crazy people online," she said.
“I was sickened to find out they also get a sexual kick from it.
“The images on their profiles are extremely disturbing once you realize that they have chopped off their own fingers.”
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Natasha lost her fingers while making a laptop table for a high school student with a brain tumor after connecting with his mom on Facebook.
Despite not being a professional carpenter, she took the hobby seriously — juggling multiple projects at a time.
One day, while leveling out a plank of wood for the desk with a table saw, the saw kicked back and flipped the plank into the air.
When the plank came back down, it knocked Natasha's fingers into the blade.
In the aftermath of the accident, while waiting for the ambulance, Natasha located one of her fingers in a pile of sawdust.
She was taken to Harbor View Hospital, Seattle, where medics were forced to amputate due to the damage to her knuckles.
Despite her severe injuries, once she was discharged from hospital she still completed the table for the young boy with the brain tumor.
Natasha said: “I hated the idea of coming back to a messy house after the hospital, so I did a bit of cleaning before the ambulance arrived.
“I'm a mom of five so it takes a lot to phase me.”
After adapting to her disability, the crafty mom was fitted with a robotic hand from Naked Prosthetics, which has proved useful when changing diapers, cooking, and working.
She said: “I started posting on Instagram about my injury because I wanted to help other people who were going through the same.
“And then all the weird messages just came flooding in.
“I was getting at least one message every week before I started reporting and blocking them.”
While at first she thought the DMs asking for details about her accident were sent out of concern and support from fellow amputees, she soon realized she was wrong.
“But then I noticed the people I was talking to had cut their own digits off for the thrill of it,” she said.
She has since learned that this community who fetishize amputees call themselves “hobby surgeons” and often cut their own fingers and toes off “knuckle by knuckle.”
During the four years since the accident, Natasha has been sent some “really weird requests,” including people asking for pictures of her nubs and making inappropriate sexualized comments about her hands.
Although she “hates” the negative attention from hobby surgeons, the plucky mom has also used social media, mainly TikTok and Instagram, to connect with other amputees in support groups.
Natasha, who is mom to, Payton, 14, Natalie, 12, Charlotte, 7, Genevieve, 5, and Lucciana 3, said: “The support groups have been vital to my recovery, they have made me realize that I’m not alone and life goes on.
“But unfortunately, some of these hobby surgeons have infiltrated our support groups, totally invading our safe space, in order to find more amputees to harass.
“They have even taken screenshots of mine and other women’s pictures and made Instagram accounts with all our images.
“It is absolutely terrifying that there are such sick and twisted people out there, and they are harassing people with disabilities.
“They are not ashamed at all, they even post publicly about it and ask each other for advice on how to handle the pain after severing their own fingers.”
She said she’s at a loss for how to remove them from her online life.
“Sadly, blocking them doesn't work as they just make new accounts. It's an impossible situation," she said.
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“It's very sad because there are many vulnerable amputees out there who are being exploited on social media and accept money for their requests.
“These people need to be stopped, but I don't know how. It seems these twisted people will always find a way.”
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