'I was devastated. I thought my life was over and a nightmare would begin because I couldn’t imagine any other life.'
A man who cut off several of his fingers while sawing hasn’t been put off his craft as he looks forward to returning to carpentry.
Marcin Michalec underwent a toe-to-thumb transplant, the first ever performed on an adult in the UK, which will let him return to the career he loves.
Marcin, 46, was using a table milling machine in his London workshop last April when his hand slipped and he accidentally cut off his thumb and index finger.
The father-of-two said he thought his ‘life was over’ and feared he would never be able to work as a carpenter again – a profession he has ‘loved’ and practised for decades.
But in the nine-hour operation, surgeons at St Thomas’ Hospital removed the second toe of Marcin’s right foot and transplanted it to become a new thumb for his injured left hand.
Now, Marcin is ‘full of optimism for the future’ and he ‘can’t wait’ to return to work – hopefully this autumn.
He said: ‘I was devastated. I thought my life was over and a nightmare would begin because I couldn’t imagine any other life. I love the carpentry profession.
‘It feels amazing to have my life back and I know I can go back to what I love – it’s very exciting.
‘I did not expect (this surgery) to be possible. It’s amazing.’
Marcin, who’s originally from Poland, loves being an ‘artist’ as a craft and often makes his wife Monika hand-made wooden gifts.
Describing the accident, he said: ‘I remember everything because people were in the workshop, shouting “What’s happened?” and they started running away.
‘I called somebody to help me but, at first, you don’t feel pain because it’s the shock.
‘I looked at my hand and I only saw small parts of bones and I started pulling back the skin because I didn’t want to bleed too much.
‘I was screaming, “Guys, you must help me, don’t run”, and my son came over because he was working with me, and he saw everything.’
At first his son, 23-year-old Slawomir thought he was pulling a prank – but when he realised Marcin was serious, father and son used their belts as makeshift tourniquets to stop the blood flow before going to hospital.
Doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital weren’t able to reattach his finger and thumb and suggested he use prosthetics: however, this would end his carpentry career as Marcin needs to be able to use his left hand to guide his tools.
‘I started worrying about the future because my wife and I had many plans,’ he said.
‘I thought my career was finished because I can’t work, I can’t do the job that I really love, and I wondered, what now? I only had my right hand.
‘I knew I’d lose something in my foot but gain something in my hand, so I was excited.
‘When I woke up after surgery and I saw the parts of my hand back, I was very happy.
‘I know now I can grab some bottles of water or grab a glass with water and drink it.
‘It’s not the same as before but with practice every day it’s getting much better and I feel much better in myself.’
Marcin has now had two operations to reconstruct the damaged tendons in his fingers, and a third to attach his toe.
Within a week of his third surgery he was walking normally, and he’s currently undergoing therapy to rebuild the strength and dexterity of his left hand.
Mr Murphy, who led the team which carried out the complex operation, said: ‘It’s relatively unusual for adults to have a toe transplanted to their hand.
‘This is the first such transplant which has taken place for an adult at St Thomas’ in recent decades, and there are only a few centres in the UK performing this surgery.
‘I’m glad he is making an excellent recovery and we hope he can start working again soon.’
Marcin said: ‘There is always lots of work to do, but you must take care of your health and be very careful with your life. Look after yourself and love your life.’
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