Warning: Graphic content
It was an all hands on deck situation.
A UK firefighter who almost lost his left hand in a horrific injury was able to return to work — thanks to an unusual surgery which saw the hand sewn into his stomach to allow it to heal over the course of three weeks.
When Anthony Seward was 21, he was forced to give up his dream job as a firefighter when he was “degloved” in a grisly factory accident with an industrial wringer.
He said he’d only been working at the factory “on the side” when he started firefighting.
“I’d always wanted to help people and so the fire service was something I was interested in,” he told South West News Service. “Every day is different; it’s a challenging but great job.”
The accident was so severe the now 27-year-old was close to losing his hand, but it was saved by surgeons, who used a World War I-era technique that involved sewing his smashed hand inside his abdomen to help it heal.
“My hand was crushed and I lost all of my grip strength and dexterity. It was quite a serious degloving injury,” Seward explained.
His former employers were fined $380,000 after his accident, and admitted they failed to replace a broken safety barrier on the winger that had maimed Seward’s hand.
Seward’s hand was maimed in a factory accident but was reconstructed by surgeons in Bristol. Anthony Seward / SWNS
Surgeons had to amputate the tips of his fingers after the accident. Daniel Dayment / SWNS
He managed to regain enough grip strength to continue as a firefighter. Daniel Dayment / SWNSSeward had to undergo four surgeries on his crushed hand and recalled that the accident was “pretty painful.”
The brave firefighter joked it was “probably more painful seeing Chelsea lose in the football this season.”
However, it was only when a surgeon said he would have to amputate the ends of his fingers that Seward realized he may never be a firefighter again.
“You feel invincible when you’re younger, and then one day something happens and you have a hard realization that you’re not,” Seward reflected. “I had envisioned a long career in the fire service doing what I enjoyed. It’s an incredible job; to have that taken away was devastating.”
He had four surgeries on his hand. Anthony Seward / SWNS
He amended one of his gloves to a mitten due to his injury. Daniel Dayment / SWNSAfter the accident, Seward took a strength and conditioning course at the University of Birmingham, hoping to regain some of the camaraderie that he missed from working in the fire department.
During a test last September, he realized that he was able to meet the minimum grip strength to rejoin the fire service, which inspired him to train to clear the test completely.
“I suddenly realized that it might be possible to go back,” he recalled, adding that grip strength was his only physical barrier to qualifying again, as he had already mastered dead lifts and pull-ups.
He’s excited to be back at work. Daniel Dayment / SWNSThe determined man spent weeks modifying his old service gloves into a mitten for his injured hand and testing them out in training exercises.
“Eventually I asked to be readmitted, and passed the tests,” he recalled. “It was quite surreal.”
Six years after his injury, Seward was able to return to his job at the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.
“Once I got back in they were really helpful to make sure I was practical and operational,” he said. “I really wanted to be a help, not a hinderance.”
Seward credits the “amazing” work of the National Health Service and the responding paramedics for his recovery and ability to pursue his dream once again.
“I’m in this position because of them,” he said. “I’m extremely grateful, there’s nothing I feel that I can do to repay them but hopefully I can do good by being back in another time.”
