Dolly Parton’s Mother Once Sewed Her Toes Back On with a Sewing Needle

“They put kerosene on it for antiseptic and momma took her sewing needles...and she literally had to sew my toes back on," Parton revealed.

Written by Kelly Brickey
Dolly Parton’s Mother Once Sewed Her Toes Back On with a Sewing Needle
Dolly Parton; Publicity Photo

Thanks to the makeshift surgery her mother performed when she was a mere child, Dolly Parton can say she has all ten of her toes.

As a young girl growing up in the rural parts of East Tennessee, Parton and her family didn’t have much. They made do with the little things they cherished and the rest was out of their hands. When Parton wound up with a foot injury leaving her with three missing toes, her mother came to the rescue without any hesitation.

“I was probably about six or seven. I had jumped across the fence onto a broken mason jar and cut three of my toes, just my little toes on my right foot, almost off and they were just kind of hanging there,” Parton recently told Dr. Oz on his daytime talk show.

Channeling the ways of MacGyver, her whole family gathered up around the table and went to work on trying to recover Parton’s little lost limbs with home remedies scattered throughout their home.

“So they grabbed me up and all my dad and my brothers, they had to hold me down. Momma, she put cornmeal — now, you’re a doctor, you might know, I think the cornmeal was to absorb the blood,” Parton reasoned.

Going so far as to dive into the sewing basket for supplies, Parton’s sweet mother saved the day due to her quick thinking and slight hand.

“They put kerosene on it for antiseptic and momma took her sewing needles — she used to make our quilts and stuff, and she literally had to sew my toes back on. But they worked and they healed and I’m still walking on them,” she said.

Just like her toes, Parton’s career stayed intact throughout her decades-long success that turned her into a household name and created an empire under her watchful eye.

Her children’s album, I Believe in You, is available in stores and digitally now.