Man Can Use His Hands Again After First Successful Double Transplant Surgery

The amazing advances in technology were highlighted once more as one man successfully underwent Britain's first double hand transplant.

Chris King can now open his front door, pour himself a drink and hold his niece for the first time in five years, after a horrific accident in 2013, while using a metal pressing machine at work, saw him lose both hands.

He told the Mirror the ground-breaking surgery he had in 2016 has given him his 'freedom back' which he really noticed the moment he managed to open his own front door.

He said: "The reason it's taken so long is the key pushes against my index finger and it was painful. But the other day Amazon came with some parcels and I thought, 'I'm going to give it another go.'

PA

"I tried the key and it worked. I screamed, 'I've done it. I've done it for the first time.' The delivery man seemed a bit taken aback. I told him I lost my hands in 2013 and got new ones in 2016 and he just said, 'Wow, that's brilliant.'"

Back in 2013 Chris was trapped in a pressing machine for six minutes before a medical team arrived and helped him. He was rushed via ambulance to Sheffield's Northern General Hospital - Chris was said to be close to death, but they fought hard at the hospital to save his life.

In 2016 he had the double hand transplant at Leeds General Infirmary thanks to Professor Simon Kay - to whom Chris even managed to write a thank you note.

Thanks to a donor, Chris went from having only two thumbs to two full hands and has become the first person in the UK to have had both hands replaced.

PA

The first successful hand transplant went ahead in 2012 for a pub landlord, Mark Cahill.

It takes time and patience for a new transplant to be fully functional - it took two years for Chris to slowly regain strength to complete simple tasks, like opening his front door, once more.

The procedure itself is very complex and costly - often costing anywhere in the region of £50,000 ($64,900) and can take anywhere up to 12 hours to complete.

During the procedure one medical team must carefully remove the donor hands while another must work on prepping the recipient to receive them. Bones must be screwed together with titanium plates and screws, then the surgeons work on attaching tendons and muscle so the hand can, hopefully, regain the ability to feel.

Incredible stuff.

Topics: Science, UK News, News, Inspirational, Medicine, Health

Rachael Grealish

Rachael is a NCTJ qualified journalist from West Cumbria, with a passion for news, features and journalism. Outside of work Rachael loves plenty of coffee, running and reading.

@RachaelGrealish