08 July 2008

Sydney Hospital’s hand surgeon saves farmer’s livelihood

Working the land can be a dangerous job and some injuries can destroy a farmer’s livelihood, but the skills of a surgeon at Sydney Hospital’s specialised hand clinic has ensured one young farmer continues in his chosen career.

Jared Naylor, 23, has spent his entire life in the world of agriculture and the young pig farmer from Perthville almost ended his career in January this year through a shotgun accident.

Using the gun to scare away crows from a plum orchard turned sour when something went wrong with the gun and Mr Naylor shot his own left hand.

“I’ve been using guns for the last eight years and I was doing everything normal and carefully, it was just a freak accident,’’ Mr Naylor said.

Mr Naylor was rushed by Careflight to Sydney Hospital, where Dr Sean Nicklin conducted technical skin grafting surgery and saved his patient’s hand and livelihood.

Dr Nicklin performed a pedicled flap, which requires the patient to have his severed hand sewn into his groin tissue, where it remains for three weeks so that the skin tissue will form its own blood supply. The hand is then removed and the flap of skin is grafted.

Dr Nicklin was unable to proceed with more common microsurgery skin grafting because of Mr Naylor’s considerations to replace his missing thumb with one of his big toes.

“I thought of the possible future surgery and the need to keep the blood vessels as strong as possible in his hand when deciding to proceed with a pedicled procedure,” Dr Nicklin said.

Mr Naylor described his doctor’s work as “mind-blowing”.

“As bad as it is losing your hand, it was half my hand and I couldn’t be happier with what he has done for me,” he said.

During National Farm Safety Week surgeons at Sydney Hospital are urging all agricultural workers to take extra care in their everyday lives.

Media Enquiries: Melissa Chain, 02 9382 8226 or 0421 618 793