A Man who had a hand transplant saved his wife’s life by using his new appendage to give her CPR.
Mark Cahill, 61, kept Sylvia alive for 10 minutes until paramedics arrived after she suffered a heart attack.
The former landlord – the first in the country to have the procedure – said: “She’s fit and well today. That was using my transplanted hand.
“So, it saved somebody else’s life as well. It’s been fantastic.”
Mark, of Halifax, West Yorks, had an operation 10 years ago today after gout left his right hand unusable. Six years later he was able to go to Sylvia’s aid.
He said: “It’s just like my own hand. I know it’s somebody else’s but I think of it as part of me.”
The transplant was performed at Leeds General Infirmary, the only hospital in the UK offering the procedure. In the past decade its unit has given eight patients 14 new hands.
Prof Simon Kay, who operated on Mark, said hand transplants were proven as “predictable, reliable and successful”.
The consultant plastic surgeon now plans to focus on child limb loss.
He added: “There’s a large number of children out there who lose their limbs from sepsis who would greatly benefit from hand transplantation.”
Anthony Clarkson, director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “It has been fantastic to see the lives of both patients and their families transformed by this precious gift.”
Patients are prepared for a year before surgery to reduce the risk of both psychologically and physically rejecting the donated hand.
