Joiner's Severed Hand Saved by Surgeons

Saturday 31st January 2009

A joiners severed hand was re-attached by surgeon Mr Sanjib Majumder after an accident at work. Jeremy Lonergan, 34, was cutting a banister rail with a chop saw when his left hand got caught up. 

"It pulled it in and cut it clean off" he said yesterday. 

After shouting for help and swearing a but, he calmly gripped his injured wrist to stop the blood flow and picked up the severed hand. 

"The hand was on the flood, so I had to bend down and with my little fingers I hooked it round the fingers and picked it up" he said. 

He then left the construction site in Batley and waited for an ambulance. 

Mr Lonergan, of Hanging Heaton, Dewsbury, said "adrenaline kicked in" but he decided he had to stay calm. "When I saw the hand was off, the feeling was 'Oh Damn'. I was quite angry with myself. I shouted out for help and I swore." 

Surgeons at Pinderfields Hospital Wakefield managed to save the hand, although he lost two fingers. He spent eight days in hospital after the accident on December 11^th. 

He has no feeling his fingers or hand and a lot of physio will be needed before it is useful again. 

Mr Lonergan is delighted with the surgical team, headed by consultant plastic surgeon Sanjub Majumder (also of Spire Methley Park Hospital), who said the surgery was "quite difficult". It is only the second time he has been involved in reattaching a hand. 

"The hand was taken off by a saw, which pulls tissues apart. We had to do micro-surgery to join blood vessels two millimetres in diameter." 

He said the surgery was a team effort involving other surgeons and theatre staff whom he called "un-sung heroes", adding: "Jeremy is now able to pinch with his index finger and thumb and can pick up a pencil. His is a motivated young man and I am delighted with his progress."