By Virginia Winder

A Dr Who fan has gone out on limb for his art.

Blenheim tattooist Allan Fagan has always been proud of the five self-penned portraits of the English sci-fi TV doctor chiselled on his legs.

But in January this year, the 33-year-old had his right leg amputated below the knee.

The cut-off point followed a car crash on 23 June 2002, when Allan fell asleep at the wheel. "I lost my eye as well," he says.

After a year of healing, his injured leg suddenly deteriorated and by the end of 2003 Allan was disabled, in terrible pain and facing a major bone-fusing operation with no guarantees of full recovery.

So, he opted for amputation and an artificial limb. "It's the best thing I ever did. I walk 10 times better than my best after the accident," he says.

His main concern was the art on his calf.
"When they told me I was losing my leg, I was also losing one of my Dr Whos."

In a bid to save his masterpiece, Allan hunted New Zealand for a taxidermist to preserve his leg.

He found a few. "But they told me I should be seeing a psychologist."

His search led him deep into the hills of east Taranaki, where Kiwi-Canadian Richard Lee is turning creatures - and legs - into his own works of art.

The New Zealand pioneer of freeze-dry taxidermy accepted the challenge.

"Because I don't have to skin the leg. I just have to freeze-dry it," he says.

"I was a little bit queasy to start with - having a bloody thing like that," Richard nods towards the foot, being processed in one of his two hi-tech machines.

Freeze Frame: Richard Lee's freeze-dry machine is directly above the barbecue in the foreground. Look closely to see the foot (at right).

After surgeons severed Allan's leg, it was temporarily preserved in formalin. In the freeze-drier the limb is white and wrinkled, like a person who's been in a bath too long.

From a distance, it could be plaster of Paris, but up close there is no mistaking the fine, crazed lines of human skin.

Look even closer to spy what looks like a bruise, but is in fact the Dr Who tattoo.

Allan's leg spent a couple of weeks in the freeze-drier, until every drop of moisture had been sucked from skin, ligaments, bone and tissue. "I did it slowly, to avoid shrinkage," Richard says.

The desiccated limb, with a $500 bill, has now been couriered to Allan's Blenheim home.

"It's just sitting on the bookshelf," he says, of the macabre memento. "Since I have had it back, I have put it away for safe-keeping. It's more of a personal thing."

But he is unrepentant about saving part of himself for all time.

"I did it for my art," Allan says.