Indiana Accident News

Linton Man Gets Hand Transplant 14 Years After Industrial Accident

An Indiana man is headed home after a successful hand transplant in another state. The man lost his appendage fourteen years ago in an on-the-job industrial accident.

According to the South Bend Tribune, 36-year-old Donnie Rickelman was working a steel-splitting machine in 1998 when both of his hands were pulled into the heavy equipment. Rickelman, who was filling in for an absent worker, suffered a crushed right hand and an amputated left hand. The injury left him unable to work – and with a significantly lowered quality of life.

Now, however, he has underwent a rare hand transplant surgery that will not only give him a new hand, but is also expected to give him 70 percent of use back – enough so that he can once again play catch, play videogames with his son, and get dressed by himself. The fourteen-hour surgery involved connecting the man’s bones, arteries, tendons, muscles, and skin to that of the donated hand.

Rickelman’s doctor says that the transplant when better than some of the other six people who have also undergone similar procedures. He also mentioned that three other patients were awaiting hand transplant donations, but that donated hands were difficult to come by.

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