In this episode, Caroline Verdon interviews Mark Cahill, the first person in the UK to receive a hand transplant. Mark shares his experience from the life-altering procedure on Boxing Day 2012 to the practical and emotional impacts it has had on his daily life, including saving his wife's life during a cardiac arrest. He discusses his initial condition, the decision-making process for the transplant, and his life post-operation, offering advice to others considering this transformative surgery.

Produced by Under the Mast, this podcast is presented by Caroline Verdon

You can find out more about hand and upper limb transplants at LEEDS TEACHING HOSPITALS NHS TRUST here

00:00 Introduction to Leeds Hand Transplant Team

00:33 Mark Cahill's Journey to Hand Transplant

02:03 Life After the Transplant

03:41 The Emotional Impact and Family Support

08:49 Advice for Potential Hand Transplant Recipients

10:21 Conclusion and Future of Hand Transplants

In safe hands, stories from Leeds pioneering hand transplant

team coming up in this episode.

My wife in 2016, she had a cardiac arrest whilst she was in bed.

I decided I had to keep her alive for about 13 minutes.

Anyway, after about eight minutes.

I got tired with my left hand, so I had to transfer the phone to my left hand

and start doing it with my right hand.

And I managed to do it for another five minutes with my right hand,

before the paramedics arrived.

Hello, and welcome to episode 11.

I'm Caroline Verdon, and today we meet Mark Cahill, who on Boxing

Day in 2012 became the first person to receive a UK hand transplant.

Originally, I suffered from gout really badly.

And, uh, I've got infected gout in my right hand.

And they tried to cut all the infection out.

And they did work and I ended up with a paralysed hand.

So, it was my mother actually, she'd seen Prof on the television,

Professor Keogh on the television.

And she says, well, he's doing hand transplants, this guy.

She says, is it?

Can you get to see him, see if he can repair yours?

So I, I, I saw my doctor.

My doctor got me an appointment with the, the consultant under him.

And they said, well, we're not sure what we can do, but we'll get you to see a

prof. So they got me to see a prof, and he says, no, your hand's absolutely gone.

It's, it's, it's, there's no repair in that.

He says, but, he says, you're an actual ideal.

candidate for the hand transplant, uh, uh, if you fancy that.

So I had a discussion with my wife and family and thought, well, why not?

Now, at that point, there hadn't been any

hand transplants in the UK.

No, no,

no.

Was that, was that a worry, did that?

It wasn't a worry because I did my homework.

I went on the American site and looked at what they'd been doing across there.

And I thought, well, it's pretty successful across there.

Uh, I thought it should be, it should be okay.

And obviously it's been, is it 12?

12 years, 12 years this December.

And what's it like comparing your hands before

uh, you had the transplant to now?

What, what can you do that you couldn't?

Well, my hand was paralysed before.

So, I can now use it, For grips and hauling, so you know,

fastening a zip and things.

Things I used to have to ask my wife to do for me, things like that, so.

It helps out with everyday journals to find stuff, it's, it's not very good.

But with main things, it works quite well.

He, uh, as I said, the feeling's not as good.

Uh, but I had full feeling.

In the other hand, I haven't witness this one.

That must have been a, a big change to get used to.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

Especially when you're dealing with kettles and things like

that and you, you don't realize.

Yeah.

, you learn, you learn eventually, after, after a few burns, you,

you get, you get the hang of it.

Yeah.

Was there anything.

in particular that you were desperate to be able to do?

Was there anything that sort of propelled the, the desire to have the transplant?

Well, I know it sounds quite minor, but I had a young grandson

at the time, Thomas, and, uh, I couldn't hold his hand properly, because I have a

walking stick in one hand, and he couldn't hold, I couldn't hold his hand properly.

As soon as I had my hand transplanted, I could do that, and that was, it

was a great moment, that, really.

Because it's things like that, I suppose, that you say minor,

but That's what life's about, isn't it?

It's one of those big moments.

Yeah,

yeah.

And what was it like for your grandson?

How old was he at this time?

He was a four year old at the time, you see.

I think he didn't quite understand it.

You know, he was quite, he was quite, he enjoyed all the attention with

the papers and television and things.

He got on a lot of things.

So it made him sort of famous at school and things like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Now, Prof K was talking about the discussion between whether

or not a hand transplant is life saving or life enhancing.

And how it compares to donations of other organs.

What, what's your opinion on that?

Well, obviously it's not life saving, but it's tremendously life

altering, and especially your confidence.

Confidence is so much better.

I used to hide my other hand.

Behind my back and shaped with my left hand.

Now I'm straight out like that with my hand.

I mean, I stopped going out and all sorts because you get embarrassed

about things, you know, and so that enhances your confidence with things.

To go and try things, so your confidence is tremendously better.

So for your well being, it's brilliant.

And actually Whilst your hand may not have saved your life,

it has still saved somebody else's.

My wife, in 2016,

she had a cardiac arrest whilst she was in bed on the side of me.

And, uh, uh, I just heard this horrible gasp and she just stared in life at us.

So I phoned 999 straight away and the lady on the other end of the phone

was actually fantastic and, uh, She.

She told me what to do.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the phone onto hands free.

So I was having to hold the phone with one hand, which obviously I

could do with my transplanted hand.

And I was pumping away with my other hand, one handed.

I had to keep her alive for about 13 minutes, anyway, for about 8 minutes.

I got tired with my left hand, so I had to transfer the phone to my left hand

and start doing it with my right hand.

Uh, do it for another five minutes when I arrived at, before the paramedics arrived.

And, uh, I kept driving.

Uh, apparently very few people survive cardiac arrests out of hospital.

And, uh, she was actually, she was actually dead for 19 minutes

before the paramedics got her back.

That must have been on so many different

levels, such an emotional moment.

And, that was helpful.

What was your wife's reaction when you first started talking

about having a hand transplant?

She was very supportive actually.

She's quite easy going herself.

So, she says, well, if that's what you want to do, that's what you want to do.

And so she was quite happy about it.

Because it She, she could reject it as well as myself, you know, that's, I mean,

I went through a lot of psychological tests to see if I was suitable to have

an eye transplant, but she, she also had to accept it as well, because if

you think about it, it could, she could think of it as somebody else touching

her and not me, uh, and she was quite, she was quite accepting of it, so she.

A lot of patients that I've spoken to have spoken about

how quickly they felt like it was.

their hand.

And whilst they still think about the donor, it very

quickly felt like part of them.

What's your experience?

Mine's probably different from most hand transplant patients in

the fact that I had a hand attached.

I had a full hand there when I went to sleep and I woke up with a full hand.

And so to me it was just an operation.

I know that sounds trivial.

I'm not trying to trivialize it.

I went to sleep with a hand on and I woke up with a hand on.

And so the psychological aspect of that.

I don't think it's as bad as if you've got no hands and you wake up with two hands.

That must be a real eye opener.

Uh, as I said to me, uh, it was just what it

was.

When you were able to, and I know it can be quite a slow process, but when

you were able to start using your hands, and they gave you the go ahead for that,

did it just feel like it was just you?

Yeah, really, it just felt like I was recovering

from any sort of operation.

You know, it's like if you break your leg and you learn to walk again and things.

Yeah, it's a matter of rehabilitation, and a lot of physiotherapy was

there, which was tremendous.

And the teeth.

And how about for your wife?

Because like you said, it could be something that perhaps she might reject.

Yeah, she was fine.

She would, yeah, absolutely.

She never had a problem with it at all.

Completely unfazed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

And what would your advice be to anybody who

was Thinking maybe I should find out more, maybe this is for me.

Yeah, uh, yeah.

Do exactly the same as I did.

Talk to all the Richard and Prof, Sarah, uh, research it online.

And look into it really big, because it's a big decision.

Uh, and you've got to look at the pros and cons of it, you know.

And to be quite honest, I tell people to go for it.

Because it's not, um, and initially that's what I imagined.

I imagined that it would be, hey, here's your operation, you've got your hand now,

off you go to live the rest of your life.

And there's a lot of return, you know, because you say you're 12

years on and we're here today in the hospital for one of your checks.

I

think, I think they probably have a bit of an easier life

nowadays because with me being the first, any little thing that went

wrong, I was in hospital, you know.

Two days in bed will keep an eye on you, and things like that.

Now, because of everything they've learned, they're a bit easier with

it now, you know, it is, yeah.

I mean, obviously they keep a really good eye on you, but, um, they're not as,

you know, I was like a baby, you know, like, we're all going to lose this one.

I suppose they've learned as well, from where you've had perhaps

hiccups along the way, they've learned how to deal with those, so it's easier.

As

Prof called me a pioneer.

I said a guinea pig, but he said a pioneer.

Coming up on our next episode, we're asking the big questions.

What does the future look like for hand transplants in the UK?

Currently, hand donation isn't listed as an option when we sign the donor register.

Is that likely to change?

And also, what about hand transplants in children?

Well, as ever, you'll be able to find the episode wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast is an under the mast studio production.