Friday, July 22, 2016
The first man in United Kingdom got a double hand transplant, and he says it feels great.
Chris King, 57, lost both his hands except his thumbs in an accident involving a machine three years ago.
He had his surgery at the Leeds General Infirmary, a local hospital in England. Speaking to the Telegraph after his surgery he said, "I couldn't wish for anything better. It's better than a lottery win because you feel whole again."
"They look absolutely tremendous," he said. "They're my hands. They really are my hands. My blood's going through them. My tendons are attached. They're mine. They really are.
"I can't wait to get all this (the bandages) off and look at them properly."
The surgery seems to have been successful as he has already been able to move them.
He said he had gotten used to not having hands and had adapted a bicycle so that he could ride it without using his hands.
Now he says, he can’t wait to start riding a proper bicycle and do other things that he love: gardening and wearing a shirt with real buttons.
He was introduced to the hand transplant surgery by a plastic surgeon in Sheffield.
A donor gave him his hands. The identity of the donor has not been revealed.