Britain’s first hand transplant patient tells how he saved his wife’s life by performing CPR after she went into cardiac arrest.
Ten years after 61-year-old Mark Cahill underwent surgery at Leeds General Hospital, the former pub landlord has revealed how it changed his life.
“It’s like my hand. I know it’s someone else’s hand, but I think it’s part of me,” he said.
Six years after surgery, Cahill used his new hand to perform CPR on his wife, Sylvia, saving her 10 minutes between cardiac arrest and the arrival of an ambulance.
Britain’s first hand transplant patient tells how he performed CPR and saved his wife’s life after she went into cardiac arrest (pictured together) .
Ten years after 61-year-old Mark Cahill (left) underwent surgery at the Leeds General Infirmary, the former pub landlord revealed how it changed his life.
He said: “She’s fine today. It was using my transplanted hand. So it saved someone else’s life too, which was great.”
Cahill understands how difficult it can be for families to face professional nurses asking for donations immediately after a tragic event in their life.
“That must be a terrible decision for them to make. You can see the hands, but not the other organs.”
“I’m so happy for my family who agreed to it. And I’m so happy I got it because someone did it for me.
He said: “It’s sad, but they gave me that new hand for ten years.”
Cahill said, “She’s healthy and doing well today. It was using my transplanted hand. So it saved someone else’s life too, which is great.”
Photo: Britain’s first hand transplant recipient Mr Cahill in 2012 with surgeon Simon Kay at Leeds General Hospital
By sharing her experience, Cahill was able to help Corinna Hutton prepare for a bimanual transplant.
Hutton was terrified of the surgery after losing both hands and legs to sepsis in 2013 and being warned it could take “months” to accept her new hands as her own.
“He showed me what it was really like to live with it,” she said. .
“It has changed my life in an incredible way. So easy to take for granted.
She said the first few months after the transplant were very hard, but the breakthrough came about five months after she went to Glastonbury and was “back to me.”
Cahill understands how difficult it can be for families to face professional nurses asking for donations in the immediate aftermath of a tragic event in their lives.
By sharing her experience, Cahill was able to help Corinna Hutton prepare for her own double arm transplant.
“Since then, it’s been constant improvement,” she said. “Four years later, I’m still doing something new or beating myself up every week.”
“The minute I woke up they were mine.
“Then I felt an immediate sense of guilt thinking someone had died and reached out to me. I never want to forget that. Whenever I celebrate my hands, I wonder how other family members have dealt with it.” Think about whether you are
Unlike Cahill, Hutton has met Donner’s family.
She said: “They can see her, feel her, touch her with my hand. It just blows your mind, doesn’t it?
Six years after surgery, Cahill used his new hand to perform CPR on his wife, Sylvia, saving her 10 minutes between cardiac arrest and the arrival of an ambulance.
Chris King, 63, from Rossington, near Doncaster, underwent a double arm transplant after losing all his fingers except his thumb in a horrific work accident in 2016.
“It was a strangely wonderful trip,” said King. “Life is back to good.”
King doesn’t consider his hands to be from anyone else at all, but he does think of donors on a regular basis.
“I wonder what kind of man he was. Was he the young man of the family? Did he have a daughter or a son?” “I love motorcycles, so was he a biker?”
He said he struggled to write letters of thanks to donor families he had never met. And soon after the operation, he said, he cried all day for the deceased and their families.
“I was crying and thinking about the donor. What was he like? And I think they cried a lot themselves.
King said it hasn’t been an easy road since 2016, but he wouldn’t consider doing it again.
He said he was amazed at how quickly his fingernails grew. And he said he knew he had embraced a new hand when he found himself biting his nails.
