Fireman saws off arm… then carries it half a mile to get help



A man who sliced off his arm while cutting up wood picked it up and calmly carried it half a mile to get help.



Stuart Frain was using a circular saw in his garden when his left arm was dragged under the blade and sawn off below the elbow.



The retired fireman, however, refused to panic.



Calm under pressure: Stuart Frain did not panic when he hacked off his left arm below the elbow with a circular saw

Instead, he attempted to stem the flow of blood from the wound with his right hand and headed off to find assistance while clutching the severed limb.



The 50-year-old crossed a nearby canal before flagging down a passing cyclist and two men who were walking their dogs.

They called an ambulance but, using his emergency services training, Mr Frain was able to explain to them how to help him by using a stick and one of the dog leads as a tourniquet.



The grandfather and father of four from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, then collapsed due to massive blood loss and was taken to hospital by ambulance.



Ice was packed around the arm before he spent seven hours in theatre as surgeons battled to reattach his limb.



Amazingly, they managed to stitch it back on but doctors do not know yet if he will fully regain the use of his arm.



Help: Retired firefighter Stuart picked up the limb which was hanging by a few bits of skin and dashed off to find help

Doctors say his calmness in the face of an emergency and his quick-thinking to tie a tourniquet undoubtedly saved his life.



Speaking from his bed at Wythenshawe Hospital, Mr Frain said: ‘I was working in the garden with a radial arm saw.



‘Ultimately it dragged my arm and took it off completely between the elbow and the wrist.

‘Because it’s quite secluded where I live I ran for help holding the arm. I attempted to stem the flow of blood by using my right hand.’



He said doctors told him he was only 90 seconds from death due to horrendous blood loss.



He added: ‘The surgeons took skin grafts out of my leg and replaced them in my arm.



‘Now we’re just waiting to see if my body will keep or reject the arm, but it’s going to be quite an ugly limb.



Surgery: Plastic surgeon Vivien Lees, right, led a team of medics at Wythenshawe who worked through the night to reattach Stuart's arm

‘The medical staff have done an absolutely wonderful job.’



Mr Frain says his fire service training – and more than 30 years of front-line experience of emergency situations – proved vital.

‘They did say that I’d saved my own life by doing what I did. It’s the first aid training from my years in the fire service.



‘I would just like to say thank you to the passers-by for their assistance, it must have been shocking for them.’



Mr Frain, who only retired in January, was alone at his home when the accident happened on Sunday.

It was just a case of he had to do that to survive. His fire service career meant that he knew what he needed to do and did it. We had to fix the bones and shorten the arm ever so slightly to compensate for the damage.

- DR VIVIEN LEES



He was making raised beds for his allotment when the drama unfolded – and district nurse wife Pippa, 48, was at work.



She said: ‘If those people hadn’t been there Stuart wouldn’t be alive but it was also important that he knew exactly what to do and didn’t panic, which was just amazing.’



Consultant plastic surgeon Vivien Lees, who led the team of medics that performed the surgery on him, said they worked through the night to attach his severed arm.



She described the incident as ‘extraordinary’ and said Mr Frain was ‘lucky’ to be alive.



She added: ‘Mr Frain had applied the tourniquet. It’s extremely painful and most people can only manage about 15 minutes before it becomes too much.



‘He had to do that to stop the bleeding and I suppose it was just a case of he had to do that to survive.



‘His fire service career meant that he knew what he needed to do and did it. We had to fix the bones and shorten the arm ever so slightly to compensate for the damage.



‘We joined up the muscles and tendons and we put together the arteries and veins.



‘It was a complicated operation and it’s not every day you get an incident like this.

