A RELIEVED wife has thanked fast-thinking surgery staff for saving her husband’s life after he suffered a horrific accident while doing DIY.

Ken Fowler, 72, was removing a sheet of glass as part of a project at his home in Kirby Cross when it suddenly broke in his hands.

The upper part of the glass then came crashing down on to his wrist, severing an artery and resulting in a severe amount of sudden blood loss.

As soon as Mr Fowler’s wife Jay, 69, realised what had happened she tried to apply a tourniquet in a bid to minimise the amount of blood her husband was losing.

She then rushed him to Caradoc Surgery, in Frinton, where staff rushed to his aid, despite not normally offering an A&E service.

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

“The staff went straight into trauma mode with the whole team coming together to help Ken by controlling the blood loss,” added Mrs Fowler.

“They also contacted the ambulance service, got their cardiac resuscitation equipment ready in case it was needed and got advice from the mobile trauma team.

“There was blood everywhere, but they were calm, kind and thoughtful - they went all out to save his life.”

Mr Fowler was then transported to Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, where he underwent surgery to repair the artery and reconnect his nerves and tendons.

He is now resting at home, but his arm is in a plaster cast and bandaged up in order to let the artery heal before it can hopefully be removed next week.

“The surgeon at Broomfield said Ken is very lucky because he wouldn’t have made it to a hospital if I had driven him to one,” said Mrs Fowler.

“So, the surgery saved his life and we are so grateful to the Caradoc team for saving Ken’s life.”

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

Mrs Fowler has since also thanked a thoughtful Samaritan who came to her rescue after she forgot to unplug her iron amid the chaos that was trying to help her bleeding husband.

“I called a chap called Nathan from NLB carpentry in Walton who had called earlier to discuss building us some wardrobes,” she added.

“He managed to get over the side fence and found our doors open so pulled out the iron and locked up for us.

“We had only met him that day. What a great guy.”