When fake breasts become real heroes.
BUMPER BUMPERS. In Ruse, Bulgaria, a 24-year-old woman ran a red light at a busy intersection and slammed into a passing car. Although both cars were totaled, the woman escaped with minor injuries. How? According to police, “Her silicone breasts acted as airbags” (although she did require surgery to replace her implants, which ruptured in the crash.)
ROCKET DEFENSE. In 2006 a young Israeli woman was hit in the chest by shrapnel during a Hezbollah rocket attack near the Lebanese border. Her silicone implants absorbed the impact of the metal fragments and kept them from reaching her heart. “This is an extraordinary case,” said her doctor. “She was saved from death.”
BODY ARMOR. Jane Selma Soares of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was on her way home when she got caught in the crossfire of a shootout between police and a gang of drug dealers. She tried to duck out of sight, but a bullet caught her in the chest. Doctors later found the bullet…lodged in one of her breast implants. Soares, who suffered no serious injuries, eventually got new, larger implants. “I’m twice as happy,” she declared. “First, because my prosthesis saved my life, and also because now I look even more beautiful!”
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY. In 2003 Denise Leblanc and Mark Marzoni were deep-sea fishing off the coast of Panama when Marzoni hooked a 1,000-pound marlin. Marzoni was trying to reel in the fish as Leblanc, leaning over the side of the boat, filmed the catch. The marlin was nearly in the boat when it began thrashing—and suddenly impaled Leblanc with its sharp sword-like snout, spearing through her right arm, her right breast, and her side. The fish fell back into the water; Leblanc collapsed on the deck. Marzoni rushed to her aid and noticed that her right breast was…gone. Later, at the hospital, doctors made an astonishing discovery: The marlin’s bill had shoved Leblanc’s silicone implant through her ribcage and into her chest cavity, preventing the sharp snout from puncturing her lung and possibly killing her.
In the United States it’s a federal crime to imitate Smokey Bear or Woodsy Owl.