Man gets his toes grafted on his hand

A 31-year-old UK man who lost three fingers in a bike crash is thrilled he can finally lift a pint again - thanks to his toes.

Jonas Barber had a 12-hour operation to use two of his toes to replace his lost fingers on his right hand.

The procedure was carried out by Prof Simon Kay, the pioneering surgeon who carried out the UK's first hand transplant on Mark Cahill in December.

Motorbike enthusiast, dad-of-three Jonas, suffered his injuries in a 80mph horror crash during a race meet.

He said: "Now with the new fingers I can hold a pint glass properly, which is great. Little things like that are taken for granted but I can enjoy a drink, hold a laptop without dropping it, hold a bottle.

"They aren't the prettiest of things but I don't really care. All that matters is that I have some function back.

"When I first had the accident we initially told my youngest daughter my fingers would grow back.

"Since I've had the toes sewn onto my hand she thinks that's exactly what happened - and we aren't about to tell her any different."

The auto-electrics expert, who runs his own business and lives in Leeds with his wife Carla, 30, and three daughters - Amelia, eight, Madison, six, and Freya, four, was injured in Lincolnshire in July 2011.

Racing enthusiast Jonas was clipped by another rider at around 80mph and his fingers were caught in the brake disc of his BMW.

But the hardy dad-of-three calmly picked up his fingers and waited for help.

He said: "I wasn't in shock, I was quite calm. The marshal came and nearly fainted looking at my hand, he had to hold on to me.

"There wasn't much pain. I was more in discomfort from a dislocated shoulder.

"When I got to the hospital it wasn't good. The doctors said I would just end up with stumps.

"At which point I said 'don't you dare take me out of that theatre without sewing them back'."

The doctors re-attached his index finger but despite treatment with leeches, after about a week they had to remove it again.

Then last March he had the toe transplant at Leeds, Spire Hospital and is now waiting for a further operation to remove scar tissue.

"I was willing to do anything to get back on the bike," he said.

"To start with there wasn't much pain but as the recovery goes on the more the nerves knit and the more pain you get because you are getting more sensation.

"When the bandages come off you still recognise them as your toes and they are never really going to look like your fingers.

"I'm still self-conscious with it but we have done it for function, that's the main objective."

Prof Kay used the toe next to the big toe from each of Jonas' feet, providing him with large enough digit substitutes that didn't adversely affect foot function.

The professor, who usually carries out the procedure on younger patients, said: "In the case of Jonas he was a great patient because he has the right personality - he doesn't want to be dramatic or make a big fuss, he just wants to sort himself out and get on with his life.

"It wasn't really complicated surgery. For me and my amazing team, it was relatively straight-forward.

"The operation gives you some feeling, some movement, some power. We aren't trying to create something beautiful, we're trying to create something functional."

Right-handed Jonas said he can still write better with his new hand than he ever could with his left and his signature has hardly changed.