Based in Alachua, Axogen developed a way to prepare nerve grafts that promotes damaged nerve endings to reconnect.

John Athanason put his hand through a sliding glass door two years ago, slicing through two major nerves, an artery and multiple tendons in his right arm.

Though he was able to control the bleeding before paramedics arrived, the sight of his fingers splayed unnaturally and his inability to get them to respond sent his thoughts into overdrive.

"It freaked me out. I couldn't control my fingers. I couldn't make them move. I kept yelling to myself, 'I lost my hand. I lost my hand. What am I going to do?'" said Athanason, 30, a mechanical engineer.

But thanks to nerve grafts developed by an Alachua County company and an Ocala orthopedic surgeon specializing in trauma surgery, Athanason's hand is back to near normal.

Shaking hands with Athanason, you'd never know he almost lost its use.

On March 3, 2017, his two dogs started fighting in the backyard of his Ocala home. He ran toward the sliding glass door leading to the backyard but slipped on a towel placed in front of the door to keep the dogs from tracking mud into the house.

He instinctively put out his hands, and his right arm broke through the glass door. The non-tempered glass cut deep from his palm, across his wrist and almost half-way up his forearm, leaving a zig-zag wound that began to bleed profusely.

"I couldn't call 911 because of all the blood," he said.

Fortunately, the cut was deep enough to sever the artery. That made it easier to staunch the bleeding, which Athanason did, using the same towel he slipped on.

Finally, able to call 911, he had about eight minutes to contemplate his gnarled hand.

"I see my fingers in all different directions. When the paramedics got there, the guy was so nice he made it look semi-normal," he said.

Dr. Nirav Gupta got the call when Athanason arrived at Ocala Regional Medical Center's trauma unit. It wasn't the first time he'd have to repair major nerves. He knew what to do.

Repairing tendons and even arteries is pretty straight forward, but nerves are tricky, Gupta said.

"It not like hooking up two ends of the cable TV and the picture pops up. Nerve function doesn't return immediately," he said, adding that nerves also don't do well under tension which is hard to avoid when reconnecting damaged nerves.

About 12 years ago, Alachua-based Axogen released its specially prepared nerve grafts for cases like Athanason's. The company developed a way to prepare donated nerve grafts that a body won't reject and which also promotes damaged nerve endings to reconnect.

"If it hadn't been repaired, after about 18 months there is nothing that can be done. That happens to a lot of people who don't get a surgeon that knows that the nerve can be repaired like this," said Anna Lane, Axogen senior market development manager.

Before the grafting technology was available cases like Athanason's didn't turn out well.

"Nerve injuries, historically, have a very unpredictable rate of healing. In some people, they heal well and some they don't," Gupta said. "I have used this for seven patients. I have fixed some really devastating nerve injuries. They did a lot better than what we would have expected years ago when we didn't have this technology."

The graft reduces tension and serves as a bridge allowing nerve endings to grow toward one another.

"Thousands and thousands of patients have been helped by it. We're trying to raise awareness that nerve injuries can be repaired. We are the only company that has a nerve graft that can be used in these types of procedures," Lane said.

For Athanason, it's meant the world.

"At first, I was very depressed. I've seen people that have lost the use of their fingers after injuries like mine. But after three weeks or four weeks, I started seeing so much improvement. I was back to work in two and a half weeks and back to the gym in a month and a half," he said.

Other than the scars, the only lasting effects of the injury are to his fine motor and sensory functions. He can feel heat and cold but has trouble with textures. He also struggles with small buttons.

"It keeps getting better. Hopefully, that will come back soon," he said.

Contact Carlos E. Medina at 867-4157 or cmedina@starbanner.com