The pain in his right arm started for Steven Gallagher (48) thirteen years ago and came along with an unusual rash on his cheeks and nose. Doctors didn’t know what to do. He had surgery, but the pain soon returned in both arms.
Father of three daughters
The father of three daughters (12, 24 and 27) was referred to a specialist, who diagnosed him with scleroderma, an autoimmune disease. The disease left scars on his skin and problems with his organs.
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About seven years ago, his fingers started squeezing inward. After a while his hands made a kind of fist over which he had no influence anymore. He was in a lot of pain, Gallagher tells the BBC.
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Scleroderma, a rare disease
Scleroderma (also called systemic sclerosis) is a condition in which patients suffer from inflammation and hardening of the connective tissue. Connective tissue is found throughout the body. It ensures that the cells of the skin, joints, muscles and organs are held together.
Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder. In autoimmune disorders, your immune system attacks your own body tissues. This causes inflammation.
Systemic sclerosis is uncommon, it is a rare disease. About 3000 people in the Netherlands have it. The diagnosis is made about 100 times each year.
Bron: Rheumatism Netherlands
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“My hands became useless,” recalls Gallager. “I couldn’t do anything but lift things with two hands.”
The Scot, who had previously worked as a roofer, found himself at home in the village of Dreghorn, not far from Glasgow. He was referred to a plastic surgeon who specializes in hand surgery. This doctor suggested the double hand transplant, to which Gallagher laughed.
Risks
Gallagher spoke to doctors about the risks of the procedure, which would take about 12 hours and involved 30 medics. Someone with an autoimmune disease has never been helped with two new hands before.
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“There was a real chance that I would lose both hands. The risk of that was not great, but it was a possibility,” says the Scot. “My wife and I talked about it extensively and I decided to take a chance.”
‘Surreal’
In December last year the time had come and Gallagher was operated on, after a suitable donor had been found. “It was surreal when I woke up after the surgery,” he says. “These hands are fantastic, I’ve been able to move them since the very beginning.
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Gallagher spent four weeks in the hospital and has had physical therapy every week since. “Some actions remain difficult, but it keeps getting better. The big difference is the pain. It was terrible before the operation, now I don’t have any problems anymore.”
Psychological test
The doctor who performed the operation tells the BBC that a hand transplant is “very different from, say, a kidney transplant.” You use hands throughout the day, which is why such a transplant can be very confronting for patients. Gallagher had to do a psychological test before the procedure.
Gallagher is delighted that the surgery was successful and hopes to be able to work again in the future once his hands have recovered sufficiently.
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Performed more often
A double hand transplant was performed for the first time in England in 2016. A few years later such an operation was also carried out for the first time in the Netherlands.
In 2015, an American boy received a double hand transplant. The then 8-year-old Zion Harvey was the first child to have such an operation successfully performed. Watch this video (from 2016) to see how he fared a year after surgery:
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