A builder who severed his hand with a saw had it saved thanks to the work of a former Italian professional footballer turned plastic surgeon.
Harry Wones cut through the flesh, muscle, tendons and bones of his palm, leaving the hand hanging by skin next to the thumb.
In shock, he was flown to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital where consultant plastic surgeon Andrea Figus led a team in a complicated 10-hour operation to re-attach the hand.
Saved: Surgery performed by Andrea Figus on Harry Wones' hand after he severed it with a circular saw helped save it
Mr Figus, 36, who played football with Italian Serie A side Cagliari, worked through the night and later declared the operation a success.
Father-of-one Mr Wones, who was working with a circular saw when he was momentarily distracted, today praised the surgeon and his team.
The 33-year-old said: 'They were not just doing their job they went above and beyond. Mr Figus was so positive - he was absolutely brilliant.
'It is amazing what they can do at the hospital.'
Cut off: An X-ray shows the severity of the damage to the builder's hand
Mr Wones was working on a house in Wells, north Norfolk, on February 4 when the accident happened.
After the air ambulance flight to hospital, the surgery team took a vein from his foot to reconstruct the arteries in the palm of his hand and crucially restore the flow of blood to his fingers.
Reliving the incident, Mr Wones, of Ellingham, near Bungay, Suffolk, said: 'I was working on a holiday home in Wells and was using a chop saw.
'It is a piece of equipment I use all the time. I just lost concentration and it went through my hand.
'I shouted to my colleague and he ran outside to the next door neighbour, who luckily was a retired doctor. My hand felt like it was on fire and I assumed it must be fairly bad.
'They call it a semi-amputation, it was hanging on by the thumb. The air ambulance came and landed on the high school playing field.
From the pitch to the operating table: Top plastic surgeon Andrea Figus performed the surgery
'I was conscious all the time, but I don't remember arriving at the hospital.
'I underwent 10 hours of surgery as I had severed everything from the bones, tendons, veins and nerves.'
The builder later had another operation on one of his fingers and spent two weeks recuperating in hospital.
Mr Figus said the operation was 'very complex and technically demanding'.
The Sardinian specialist praised fellow plastic surgery consultants Guido Koehler and Richard Haywood and consultant orthopaedic surgeon Peter Chapman.
Mr Figus said Harry was lucky not to lose his hand or any of his fingers and said: 'The surgery went really smoothly.
'The first thing is to reposition the bones, followed by the tendons and the blood vessels.
'Then you reattach the nerves and the veins as well. He was very lucky because he did not lose anything and we were able to save his hand.
'In terms of function he won~t recover completely 100% because all structures have been completely cut.
'What we eventually hope is to give him the pinch function. Hopefully if he recovers 50 per cent of the function he had before that would be a great result, but at the moment he has a very long journey.'
