Builder gets new hands with ‘space age’ op after his turned into permanent fists
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A builder whose hands were crippled by a rare disease has been given a new lease of life after doctors performed a pioneering double hand transplant.
Steven Gallagher, 48, was diagnosed with scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that causes scarring of the skin and internal organs, after he developed an unusual rash on his cheeks and nose about 13 years ago, and pains in his right arm.
The disease caused Steven’s hands to gradually curl into permanent fists – leaving unable to carry out even the simplest tasks.
“My hands started to close,” he said. “It got to the point where it was basically two fists, my hands were unusable, I couldn’t do a thing apart from lift things with two hands.
“I could not grab anything, it was a struggle to get dressed and things like that”
When specialists suggested the hand transplant – the first ever attempted for his condition – Steven laughed it off as “space age kind of things” but he eventually decided to take the risk.
“They were really understanding and were really open about what might happen, that I could lose my hands altogether, they said it was unlikely but it was a risk.
“My wife and I spoke about it and came to the agreement to go for it. I could end up losing my hands anyway, so it was just a case of letting them know I was going to go with it.”
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Steven said: “After the operation I woke up and it was quite surreal because before it I had my hands and then when I woke up from the operation I still had hands so in my head I never really lost any hands.
“These hands are amazing, everything has happened so quickly. From the moment I woke up from the operation I could move them.”
He added: “It has given me a new lease of life. I’m still finding things hard just now but things are getting better every week with the physio and the occupational therapists, everything is just slowly getting better.
“The pain is the big thing. The pain before the operation was horrendous, I was on so much pain relief it was unbelievable, but now I’ve no pain at all.”
Steven had worked as a roof tiler and was later made assistant contracts manager but had to stop work due to his condition.
He is now hoping to return to some kind of work once his hands have improved enough, and says he’s very grateful to the person and family of the donor who made the transplant possible.
The hand transplant team at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, which carried out the surgery, said it is the first time anywhere in the world that hand transplantation has been used to replace hands terminally affected by scleroderma.
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Professor Simon Kay, of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This operation has been a huge team effort with input from our colleagues here in Leeds and in Glasgow.
“Having a hand transplant is very different from a kidney or other organ transplant, as hands are something we see every day and we use them in so many ways.
“For this reason, we and our expert clinical psychologists assess and prepare patients, in order to be sure that they will be able to cope psychologically with the permanent reminder of their transplant, and the risk the body may reject the transplanted hands.”
- In the News
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