87-year-old Frank Reyes from Houston in Texas was working on his car when suddenly the jack failed. His hand got caught in the car's fender. The afternoon sun heated the metal of the fender to over 100 degrees, causing severe burns to his hand, even through his work gloves. He was home alone and struggled for half an hour before someone found him.
The tissue on his hand was completely destroyed, and they had to amputate one of his fingers. The burn was so bad that a skin graft wasn't able to help because there wasn't any blood circulation anymore. It didn't look good for Frank's hand, but the surgeon had an unconventional idea to save it. He decided to sew Frank's hand into his stomach.
With this surgery, the hand is able to form new blood vessels and heal. Without it, Frank would have surely lost more fingers, or possibly his entire hand. After three weeks of healing, the doctor removed Frank's hand from his abdomen, using the stomach skin as the skin for the back of the hand. "It was a strange feeling, but it worked!", Frank said.
Frank is hoping everything will heal up quickly so he can get back to driving, traveling and tending to his animals. What an amazing chance he's been given!
