If you use your hands for your professional career, then injuring one of them could be the absolute worst possible thing—and that’s just what happened to the Cake Boss himself, Buddy Valastro. The famed baker was the owner of Carlo’s Bakery and known for his TV show Cake Boss, but after severely injuring his hand in 2020, he thought his baking career was over.

The injury came from somewhat of a freak accident. According to Carlo’s Bakery spokesperson Michael Ciullo, Buddy’s hand wound up getting repeatedly impaled by a “metal rod” during a “malfunction with the bowling pinsetter” at a bowling alley in his New Jersey home.

“After trying to release the bowling pin from the cage mechanism, his right hand became lodged and compressed inside the unit,” Ciullo said in a statement. “Unable to remove his hand, he can see a 1½ (inch) metal rod slowly and repeatedly impale his hand three times between his ring finger and middle finger.”

“I’m trying to stay positive, still recovering,” Buddy said at the time. “There’s still a lot of pain, it was a freak crazy thing…. if it would’ve hit my wrist, forget about it. I would’ve bled out.”

Just over a year, and multiple reconstructive and corrective surgeries later, Buddy is feeling amazing. He came on Good Morning America to share how he was feeling and share the details on his road to recovery.

“I remember sitting in that hospital bed thinking to myself, ‘Am I ever going to be the same? Am I ever going to get my full function back?’” Buddy said on the show.

The great news is that Buddy says he’s about 95% back to normal, which is a huge difference from jus ta few months ago. February was when h received his final surgery, and up until then, he couldn’t bend his hand much. So for months, he was in agony wondering ‘what if?’

“I mean I’m not going to be a hand model, but that’s all right” Buddy joked. His hand doesn’t have to look pretty—it just has to be functional so he can go back to doing what he does back: Making cakes!

Check out the interview below to see what Buddy went through over this last year.

What do you think of Buddy’s story? Have you ever injured a body part that forbade you from doing your job? What did you do in that situation?