A chef who lost his hand following a high-speed motorcycle crash left BBC viewers heartbroken as he revealed he’d crashed after ‘dozing off’ after working a 13-hour shift.
Adrian, 51, from Suffolk, was travelling home from work at 70mph and collided with a crash barrier, trapping his arm, losing one third of his circulating blood and critically injuring his forearm and hand.
He appeared on documentary series Surgeons: At the Edge of Life, which aired last night, where plastic and orthopaedic surgeons made the tough decision to amputate Adrian’s hand and forearm.
Viewers were left heartbroken at the ‘blow for his livelihood and vocation’ and his loved ones have started an online fundraiser to help the chef, who has been learning to cook with just his left hand, return to the catering industry.
Adrian, 51, from Suffolk, had his hand and forearm amputated following a high-speed motorcycle crash and appeared on BBC2 documentary series Surgeons: At the Edge of Life
Adrian was rushed to the major trauma unit at Addenbrooke’s hospital in the early hours of the morning after crashing his motorbike at 70mph into a crash barrier on his way home from a 13-hour shift working as a chef
‘Absolutely gutted for Adrian on #surgeons. Utterly life-changing, and a blow for his livelihood and vocation. Really hoping he found fulfilling ways to keep working in the food industry after his injury’, wrote one viewer.
‘Adrian seems positive about his future. I wish him all the very best’, commented a second viewer.
‘This is just incredible tonight. Gruesome, but such skill. These medics are just awe inspiring’, said a third.
Last night’s documentary series followed the major trauma unit at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, where staff are up against the clock to treat critically injured patients.
Viewers were left heartbroken at the ‘blow for his livelihood and vocation’ and his loved ones have started an online fundraiser to help the chef
Adrian was rushed to hospital in the early hours of the morning after crashing his motorbike at 70mph into a crash barrier on his way home from a 13-hour shift working as a chef.
During the collision he trapped his arm between the crash barrier and impaled his abdomen with a piece of metal, loosing a third of his circulating blood.
Adrian was in a critical condition when he arrived in the trauma department’s resus bay with potential internal haemorrhaging along with the threat of losing a limb.
‘Adrian’s condition is serious. He is very unstable, he’s at a real risk of dying. We could lose him in the emergency department’, said Dr Mariam Imam, Specialty Registrar in Emergency Medicine.
Led by Dr Imam, a specialist major trauma team rapidly assembled to assess the external damage – checking his breathing, life threatening injuries and whether he needs urgent surgery – while inserting intravenous lines and giving Adrian fluid while assessing his pain.
Led by Dr Mariam Imam (pictured), a specialist major trauma team rapidly assembled to assess the external damage – checking his breathing, life threatening injuries and whether he needs urgent surgery – while inserting intravenous lines and giving Adrian fluid while assessing his pain
Adrian was in a critical condition when he arrived in the trauma department’s resus bay with potential internal haemorrhaging along with the threat of losing a limb
‘The first few minutes tying to stabilise a trauma patient is pretty much detective work, said Dr Imam. ‘Finding out clues as to what might be going on and what life-threatening injuries he might have.
‘Adrian has lost a third of his circulating blood volume, my instant concern is for his chest and abdomen he could be bleeding to death from those places and we can’t see it, every second counts in those situations’.
Adrian was given blood and a cocktail of pain relief drugs before being sent to CT to see if the metal had pierced any vital organs during his crash, which a scan quickly ruled out.
All attention then turned to his arm and hand, the most likely source of his heavy blood loss, which has been so badly injured doctors feared he would likely lose the limb.
Adrian was brought back to resus where an orthopaedic surgeon who specialises in bones and joints was called to assess the damage to his arm, enlisting the plastic surgery team to help explore the extent of the damage.
Adrian was given blood and a cocktail of pain relief drugs before being sent to CT to see if the metal had pierced any vital organs during his crash, which a scan quickly ruled out
After determining that there is decent blood supply to the hand, Adrian’s limb was stabilised until he can undergo further surgery.
‘The hand is a bit like a Swiss watch inside, there are many moving arts, with these kind of cases, one tries to make order out of disorder with the options that are available at the time’, said plastic and hand surgeon Alex Reid.
While waiting in the critical care unit, Adrian recalled his accident: ‘I’d been at work for 12 or 13 hours and it was the last day before my day off and I dozed off.
‘I woke up finding myself actually heading side on to the crash barrier, I remember the ambulance coming and taking my jacket away.
‘The pain I was in was unreal. You could sense that the blood was pumping out of your arm’.
While waiting in the critical care unit for his second surgery, Adrian recalled his accident, saying: ‘I’d been at work for 12 or 13 hours and it was the last day before my day off and I dozed off’
Adrian’s second surgery began with the doctor opening up a narrow tunnel in Adrian’s wrist, through which tendons and nerves run into his hand
‘I’m a chef’, he added. ‘Very passionate, always have been from the days of working in France, so yeah. I’m constantly working with my hands.’
Forty-eight hours later, he was brought back to theatre with consultant plastic and hand surgeon Ian Grant to discover if there was enough nerves, functioning tissue and blood vessels in Adrian’s forearm to allow it to be reconstructed.
The surgery began with the doctor opening up a narrow tunnel in Adrian’s wrist, through which tendons and nerves run into his hand.
While both the vital median and ulnar nerve were in tact and there was blood flow into the hand, Ian found that tissue in Adrian’s hand had started to die.
‘You cannot keep dead tissue, dead tissue has to go If you leave it it can be a focus of infection’, said Grant. ‘He could get sick and he could get sick very quickly.’
Adrian spent eight months in hospital with the occupational therapy team learning to cook with just his left hand
He found that the small muscles which allow Adrian to flex individual joints in his fingers, the bones surrounding them, and the soft tissue were dead, leading to the decision that reconstructive surgery was not an option.
Twelve days after his motorbike accident, Adrian had his hand and forearm amputated and spent eight months in hospital with the occupational therapy team learning to cook with just his left hand.
‘The first session was lets get on with it’, said Adrian. ‘I’d like to think the future will look bright and i’m certainly determined to ensure that it is’.
Now, eleven weeks on from his accident, friends of Adrian have set up a GoFundMe to help him get back on his feet, revealing he’s had his first consultation to be fitted with a prosthetic hand.
Adrian is hoping to return to catering and is considering a job lecturing and teaching the next generation of chefs.