A man in China who had his hand severed in a work accident, has successfully had it re-attached after it was connected directly to his ankle for a month before the operation.
Back in November, Xiao Wei was at work when his right hand was chopped off by a machine he was operating.
Wei said: “I was just shocked and frozen at the spot, until co-workers unplugged the machine and retrieved my hand and took me to the hospital.”
Due to the nature of the accident doctors needed to wait before carrying out the re-attachment surgery.
One of the doctors who dealt with the injury said: “His injury was severe. Besides ripping injuries, his arm was also flattened. We had to clear and treat his injuries before taking on the hand reattachment surgery .”
When Wei attended his local hospital following the work accident, he was told that his hand could not be saved and suggested he attend a larger hospital closer to town.
The doctors there were confident that the man’s hand could be re-attached, but not straight away due to complications. In order to stop Wei’s hand from dying, the doctors attached it to his ankle.
Amazingly the doctors who dealt with the incident are confident that Wei will, in fact, regain full use of his hand after undergoing some physiotherapy.
Whether or not Mr Wei will actually regain full use of his right hand as he recovers from his ordeal is not certain. What is sure is that he is unique, being the only person ever to have had their hand attached to their ankle for a month.
