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My Extraordinary Care
After nearly losing his entire hand due to an industrial
accident, Daniel Mahoney, a patient of the Hand Center of
St. Catherine Hospital, is back to one of his passions,
drumming.
Daniel Mahoney -
Chesterton, Quality Assurance Liaison at U.S. Steel
“When I experienced my hand accident, several years ago, I thought I was going to lose more than my hand. I thought I was going to lose my passion – drumming.
I have been playing the drums since I was 13 and the thought of losing my hand meant losing a lot. It was four years ago, when I was a recoil operator at U.S. Steel in East Chicago that I suffered an industrial work injury which resulted in my hand getting caught in machinery, losing all of my fingers and looking down only to see my thumb exposed down to the bone.
Because of the intensity of the accident and the amount of pain, I really don't recall the details of the injury but I knew the prognosis wasn't good when I went to the Emergency Room that Friday. Because of the accident, Dr. (Ralph) Richter (Medical Director of St. Catherine Hospital's Hand Center) didn't have much to work with but I understand from the staff that his entire weekend was spent figuring out how he was going to save my hand.
The surgery was supposed to last a few hours. After 10 hours, I had my hand back.
Dr. Richter basically reconstructed my entire hand. He took an artery from my forearm and four skin graphs from my thighs, and reattached my fingers - he basically rebuilt my hand, something I didn't think was possible.
After 10 months of extensive therapy, it was the combination of Dr. Richter's skills and the work of the therapists that has brought me healing.
If it weren't for Dr. Richter, The Hand Center and my extensive therapy, I don't think I would be where I am today. I really don't think I would have anything. I consider him the best hand surgeon in Northwest Indiana.”
Dr. Ralph Richter -
“Daniel suffered a devastating injury to his hand. We call it a degloving injury. The extent of the damage to his hand made the salvage of a useful hand extremely difficult but not impossible.”
For more information about the Joint Academy and Hand Center, click here.
