Paul Mahoney

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Type of incident – Industrial Incident

Date of incident – 25/11/00

Time – 8.30am

Location – Kemsley, Nr Sittingbourne, Kent

 

At the time of his accident, Paul was a Process Engineer, working in a paper mill. Part of Paul’s job was to work on a pulping machine, in a team, with 4 others. At one stage that morning, the machine jammed, and Paul radioed through to a colleague to shut off the power. The machine was cleared, but jammed again almost immediately. It was once again closed down, whilst Paul tried to clear it. However, the machine started up again before he had time to remove his arm from the clearance pipe.

 

Within a second, Paul was able to free himself, but the force of the machine had severed his left arm. All Paul saw was the end of his t-shirt, his arm had been cut off from half way between the elbow and shoulder.

 

It was immediately obvious that Paul needed to get to hospital quickly, so the Kent Air Ambulance was deployed. Paul was flown to East Grinstead Hospital, just a quick 12 minute journey, with his arm in a black plastic bag beside him. Paul remembers feeling extremely tired but very calm at this stage. He also envisaged his future as one without his left arm.

 

Paul was taken straight to theatre, where he spent 16 hours being operated on, by a dedicated clinical team. He awoke to a foam sling around his left arm, and was shocked to see the arm attached. At this stage, his doctors were unsure as to the outcome, and later admitted that they expected him to be only able to move his elbow, at best.

 

Paul spent a month in hospital during which time he gradually regained more feeling in his arm. When he was discharged, Paul had to wear a casing for protection and to stimulate the blood flow.  It was only in 2004, four years after the incident, that Paul’s doctors were finally happy that the operation had been a success.

 

These days, apart from a few marks, Paul’s arms look identical. Paul can use his left arm, but not in the same way he used to. But, as Paul says ‘I would have a stump now if it wasn’t for the Kent Air Ambulance. If the Air Ambulance had taken me to the nearest hospital, then I would not have benefited from the skills of the surgeons and doctors at East Grinstead. Without a shadow of doubt, they saved my arm.’