A DESPERATE man, whose urgent operation was cancelled twice, designed his own tools to perform surgery on himself.

Graham Smith, an engineer from Lancashire in England, admitted it was a reckless move, but that he had become desperate after being in so much pain and discovering he had septicaemia, reports The Sun.

He had first undergone bowel surgery 15 years ago and a suture was left in his abdomen.

He brought it to the attention of Aintree Hospital in Liverpool, where the original surgery took place, in 2011 after he noticed part of the stitches poking through his skin.

“I knew what I was doing was probably slightly reckless to say the least but I felt I had no choice,” he told the BBC of his choice to take matter into his own hands.

“I saw a very, very helpful doctor at the A&E [Accident & Emergency Department], he saw it, he said that’s nylon line from stitch nylon, you’ve got septicaemia. Foolhardy possibly — I’d rather have died trying than died of septicaemia.”

After the doctor at A&E gave him penicillin and told him to book an urgent appointment with his surgeon, Mr Smith was unable to get an appointment.

He adapted tools, including pliers usually used for jewellery making and dentistry tools, in order to unpick the knot of the nylon cord.

He said he had not made the decision lightly but did not want to die while on a waiting list.

Of the procedure itself, he said: “There was a bit of blood and it stung a bit but I was confident in what I was doing.”

He said he had to work hard to carefully undo 12 very tight knots, and now feels like “a new man”.

Aintree Hospital told the BBC in a statement Graham had been told he could have an appointment on Monday, and that he would now be contacted about his care.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Surgeons said they would “strongly advise” against people performing surgery on themselves.

This story originally appeared in The Sun.