Stu Jotham will become the first person in Britain to have such extensive bone replacement surgery
A motorcyclist who lost part of his leg in a road accident will become the first person in Britain to have his limb rebuilt using donor bones.
Stu Jotham, 29, was thrown from his motorbike in 2011 and lost a section of his thigh bone and calf bone – as well as all his knee ligaments – in his right leg as he skidded across the road.
Although surgeons managed to save his leg Mr Jotham was left using a wheelchair, suffering chronic pain and unable to work.
But now doctors are preparing to perform an operation to patch his limb with parts from a donor knee joint. Previously bone grafts have been used to help limbs or the spinal column to heal, but they are usually confined to small areas. It is the first time than an operation on such as scale has been attempted in Britain.
The operation, which will be carried out at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital, has only been performed twice worldwide. Mr Jotham has already been on the waiting list for three years while a person of similar limb size was found. And the procedure is so complicated that it could take a further two years for the bones to knit together with his own limb.
“I don’t mind because it will work for me and hopefully it will restore some sort of strength and stability in my knee, which is the ultimate goal,” said Mr Jotham, of Stroud, Gloucestershire
