I lost half of my hand in a power tool accident — here’s why I rarely use my $12K prosthetic

A man who lost three of his fingers in a freak accident has gotten a helping hand.

Leo Goodale, a 44-year-old chef from Great Hale, Lincolnshire, England spent his life savings of $12,603 on prosthetics after he lost his in a power tool accident three years ago while chopping wood.

Goodale said he was using an electric table saw when he accidentally brushed his left hand against the blade.

“I looked down and my hand was just gone,” Goodale told Jam Press.

“People always ask me if it hurts and are always surprised when I say no. I didn’t even feel it happen,” he added.

He said he then shouted for his partner Ellie, 40, who was in their house at the time of the accident.

“She came in and saw me standing there holding my wrist, half my hand missing, blood dripping everywhere,” he explained.

Ellie called for help and paramedics got there in just seven minutes.

Goodale said that he was in shock at first hence the lack of pain, but when the paramedics arrived “the adrenaline had worn off” and the first wave of pain hit him.

“Thankfully the paramedic administered morphine to my relief,” he explained.

He was taken to Royal Derby Hospital for surgery.

“They operated for around seven hours I believe and re-attached my hand,” he said of the ordeal.”

“Unfortunately, it was too badly damaged and had to be removed again a couple of days later.”

Over two weeks he had three more surgeries as well as skin grafts to mend his hand but it took him four months for his wound to heal and a year for his skin to return to normal.

He then began his search for prosthetic fingers and settled on something “purely aesthetic” so that he could feel confident at his wedding to his now-wife Ellie.

“Together with the cost of the prosthetic, I estimate the injury has cost me personally around [$50,000],” he said. He cited medical costs and a loss of earnings.

Goodale said the injury took a toll on his mental health but said he feels lucky he’s right-handed.

“I’ve adjusted really well to day-to-day life, I’m still able to do 99% of the things I did before,” he said. “It’s amazing how the body can adjust after an accident like this.”

However, the early days of his injury still proved challenging.

“In the very early days I just didn’t want to leave the house, the injury significantly affected my confidence and self-esteem,” he said.

“I had to take a significant amount of time off work, and without any earnings, I also had to re-mortgage my house and spend my life savings,” he continued.

Despite missing his fingers he said he still gets a “phantom pain” and an “itchy thumb,” something amputees sometimes report experiencing.

His prosthetic has given him a sense of normalcy, though he seldom wears it.

“Because of the cost of the prosthetic, I honestly barely use it so that I can extend its lifespan for as long as possible,” he said.

“I was told when I first bought it [that] if I wore it every day, through normal wear and tear it could only last a few years before it would begin to look tatty and need replacing,” he added.

However, he wore the silicone hand at his wedding and occasionally models it in videos on his TikTok page where he goes by @TheSevenFingeredChef.

One of his videos detailing the ordeal garnered nearly 3 million views since being posted in January.

“Why did I spend [$12,603] on a piece of plastic?” he captioned the video.

In the comments section of his video, Goodale called the prosthetic a “big expensive lump of silicon that doesn’t move,” noting that a robotic hand would have cost him upwards of $44,000.

“At least you can still flip off someone,” one viewer joked.