Doctors in Canada removed a knife from a man's body which got stuck inside after the man had been stabbed multiple times in a fight three years ago.

Billy McNeely from the Northwest Territories had no idea that the blade of the knife was still present in his back until he suffered itching and minor pain in the area. It was when his nail touched the tip of the knife blade this week, he uncovered the 7.5 centimeter blade and had it removed.

"I have done some jail time in the past" BBC has quoted the man as saying, "The guards rub over you with a metal wand detector, and every time it hit my back...it went off."

McNeely told the Canadian Press news agency that he got into a fight after a wrestling match and was stabbed five times in 2010. Although doctors at the emergency ward had stitched him after the stabbing, no x-rays were ever taken, he told the media. When he consulted doctors for subsequent irritation on the back, he was told that his nerve was damaged.

But this week, his casual scratching on his body led his finger nail catch on something suspicious. His girlfriend had a look and saw the tip of the blade protruding from his back.

"I told Billy: 'There's a knife sticking out of your back.' I was scared. I was ready to pull it out with tweezers," Stephanie Saying told the CBC News. 

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