Exclusive translation: Stephen Gallagher, 48, underwent a first-of-its-kind hand transplant at Leeds Hospital in the northwest of the United Kingdom.
first of its kind
The 48-year-old had a double hand transplant, the first of its kind in the world, after Stephen Gallagher developed scleroderma, which led to his hands closing, his fingers starting to wrinkle and suffering horrific pain.
The transplant process lasted for 12 hours at Leeds Teaching Hospital, in which hand transplantation was used to replace hands severely affected by tuberous sclerosis, and Stephen Gallagher was released after that in good condition.
He suffers from tuberous sclerosis
Now, Steven Gallagher can turn on the tap and fill a glass of water, for the first time in years, after he was suffering from tuberous sclerosis, which affected his hands and almost spread to the rest of his body.
Gallagher said, “After the operation I woke up and it was easy, these hands are amazing, everything happened so fast, from the moment I woke up from the operation, I could move them.”
He continued, “It gave me a new lease on life, I still find things difficult now, but things are getting better every week with the therapists, everything is slowly getting better, the pain is the big thing, the pain before the operation was horrible, and I was getting an unbelievable lot of pain, but Now I don’t feel any pain at all.”
And although he can’t do tasks that require great skill like pressing buttons, Gallagher can do things like pet his family dog.