Nicknamed '24,' Cuban man considers his 4 perfectly formed extra digits a blessing

[WillParkinson]

Nicknamed '24,' Cuban man considers his 4 perfectly formed extra digits a blessing

BARACOA, Cuba (AP) -- They call him "Twenty-Four." Yoandri Hernandez Garrido's nickname comes from the six perfectly formed fingers on each of his hands and the six impeccable toes on each foot.

Hernandez is proud of his extra digits and calls them a blessing, saying they set him apart and enable him to make a living by scrambling up palm trees to cut coconuts and posing for photographs in this eastern Cuban city popular with tourists. One traveler paid $10 for a picture with him, Hernandez said, a bonanza in a country with an average salary of just $20 a month.

"It's thanks to my 24 digits that I'm able to make a living, because I have no fixed job," Hernandez said.

Known as polydactyly, Hernandez's condition is relatively common, but it's rare for the extra digits to be so perfect. Anyone who glanced quickly at his hands would be hard-pressed to notice anything different unless they paused and started counting.

Hernandez said that as a boy he was visited by a prominent Cuban orthopedist who is also one of Fidel Castro's doctors, and he declared that in all his years of travel he had never seen such a case of well-formed polydactyly.

"He was very impressed when he saw my fingers," said Hernandez, who is the only one in his family to be born with extra digits.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CB_CUBA_24_FINGERS_AND_TOES?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[CBGLuthier]

1. I used to work for a woman who had her extra digits removed as a baby

Her career as a freak ended before it even began.

[Xipe Totec]

2. He should really try to play a stringed instrument

He would be totally awesome!

[av8rdave]

3. Do you suppose he has the same level of coordination on the extra digits?

If so, you're right. He could be an incredible guitar player.

Edited for spelling.

[hunter]

14. He should MAKE a musical instrument...

... that he alone can play.

[meegbear]

4. If he's anatomically correct everywhere else, shouldn't he be called '25'?

:shrug:

[Xipe Totec]

5. Stacy Brown Got Two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6-zTy6DZ3E

[meow2u3]

6. Good luck trying to find a baseball glove

He'd have to have a custom-made baseball glove or be stuck playing 1st base or catching.

Dirty mind alert: I'm talking about baseball, so get your minds out of the gutter.

[kick-ass-bob]

7. Don't let Mandy Patinkin find him.

[Bake]

8. No pic?

That would be interesting.

Bake

[WillParkinson]

9. There's one at the link...

[UTUSN]

15. & here are the toes

[RedCloud]

10. Chris Long of the 2012 Super Bowl champion Rams have six on eaxh.

[KamaAina]

12. ROFLMAO!

"the 2012 Super Bowl champion Rams"! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[nickgutierrez]

11. That's enough to make Antonio Alfonseca jealous

Alfonseca is a former major league pitcher with six fingers on each hand.

[KurtNYC]

13. Piano.

[Bake]

17. I was just about to ask if he can play piano!

He'd have a definite advantage! But who would teach him how/when to use those extra fingers??

Or there's always fingerstyle guitar! Accordion!

BANJO!!! He could DOUBLE the three-finger Scruggs style and play twice as fast!

:hi:

Bake

[Orrex]

16. 24 is Rightwing extremist torture porn

At least, that's what I keep reading around here...