Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

When I consider what I do with my hands every single day, and all the different things I couldn’t do if I lost them, I know I would simply fall to pieces. I cannot imagine how I would cope, and yet people have learned to live and cope with far worse loss.

Our hands are such an important part of our lives. We need them to do even the simplest of things, from brushing away a fly, to scratching an itch. Just how would we cope if they were suddenly taken away?

Think of all the things you couldn’t do without fingers and thumbs. The basic things in life would be impossible and you would be dependent on someone else for everything. How would you carry on?

I think it would take a very special person to survive that.

Chris King, 57, is such a special person. He lost all the fingers on both hands in an accident with a metal pressing machine three years ago. His only regret, he said at the time, was that just before the accident he had successfully stopped chewing his fingernails.

He never thought it would be possible to have new hands, although his 5 year old niece seemed convinced, constantly asking Chris when he would be getting his new fingers.

He has just become the first man to have a double hand transplant, in a 12 hour operation. He says he can already feel his new fingers, and can’t wait to hold a pint of beer  and wear shirts with real buttons, just so he can do them up himself. He still works at the same firm, but cannot go near the machine where the accident occurred. He doesn’t remember exactly what happened that day, as that part of his brain has shut down, but the noise haunts him still.

I, for one, wish him all the joy in the world with his new hands…