Dad whose arm was amputated after he cut it while working on car engine launches fundraiser

A dad who had his right arm amputated after cutting it while tinkering with the engine on his car is fundraising for a prosthetic limb - but says he can still play Call of Duty.

Stephen Rae, 40, had his right arm amputated on May 25, after battling sepsis infections for the past five years.

Dad-of-five Stephen, from Cumbernauld, nicked the three knuckles on his right hand as he did work beneath the bonnet of his car in April 2017.

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He washed the cuts with soap and water and thought nothing more of it as they scabbed over and appeared to heal.

But in June 2017 he found his right-hand forearm had swollen up and was admitted to Hairmyres Hospital for 10 days on an IV drip.

In October the infection returned and he was readmitted.

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Just before Christmas he began getting chills and a high temperature and thought he had come down with flu - but a couple of days later a pea-sized lump had appeared on his arm.

Wife Kelly, 40, pointed to what she thought was jam on the table, but it was actually blood from a cyst which had burst.

Stephen went to A&E but passed out and woke up in ICU - and was told he had only narrowly survived life-threatening sepsis.

But the nightmare continued until January 2021 when he went to Monklands Hospital where an operation was performed to remove the forearm muscle after he collapsed outside the hospital.

He woke up two weeks Wishaw with the muscles emo. Skingrafts were carried out in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in March 2021, and the elbow joint was eventually removed on April 1 2021.

A cage was put on for six months, until November.

Just over a year later the entire arm was taken off after medics discovered sepsis had returned and believed amputation was the one chance to save Stephen's life.

Tasks such as dressing himself have become impossible and Stephen said he feels infantalised by the disability - but is still is able to play Call of Duty with one hand and says it is keeping him going.

He hopes to fundraise £35,000 to buy a high quality prosthetic with motor skills in the fingers, and so far £1,415 has been raised.

Stephen said: "I honestly didn't think anything of it, I worked on my car and scraped my hand.

"It is probably a one in 1,000 chance.

"I cut three knuckles on my right hand.

"I went in the house, washed it with soap and water and put a dressing on it.

"It looked alright and scabbed over."

At the end of April 2017 he woke up and found his arm and hand had swollen up and 'looked like they were going to burst'.

He was given antibiotics, but in October the same thing happened again.

In December 2017 Stephen was still unaware of how serious the infection was.

He said: "Four days before Christmas I woke up feeling pretty crappy, I had chills and my temperature was through the roof so I thought it was flu.

"I spent a couple of days in bed and woke up with a pea-sized lump on the back of my right arm.

"I thought I'd banged or bruised it.

"That night I was cleaning the kitchen and my wife thought there was jam on the table, then we realised my arm was bleeding.

"I went to hospital and I felt like there was something on my shoulder.

"I went to A&E and passed out and woke up in ICU with a line from my groin to my neck.

"It saved my life - there was a cyst in my elbow that had burst and an infection was shutting down my organs."

After several hospital admissions and close calls, Stephen hoped that having part of his arm removed and a cage put on it would solve the problem.

From November 2021 until April this year, he said he was 'absolutely fine'.

He added: "Then sepsis came back and blew my arm up.

"The infection levels were so high I should have been dead.

"They don't know how I managed to walk into A&E with infection levels that high.

"I was given the choice of having my right arm removed above the elbow.

"If I went into hospital and didn't come back, it would destroy the kids.

"I think the infection was from dust or grease, or used car oil.

"It has been really bad but it has not killed me.

"I have managed to fight it off with help.

"If an infection is left untreated it can go through your body like a virus.

"In the end it was a no-brainer.

"It has been a massive shock, going about with one hand.

"Kelly needs to do everything for me, as you would for a child.

"There have been times when I thought 'maybe I should take my chance, what use am I to anybody'.

"I can't even help my kids to tie their shoelaces.

"Kelly has been great.

"I can still play Call of Duty on the X-box which is keeping me going.

"If you get a cut and it doesn't look right after a while, go and check.

"Don't brush it off because you may not be as lucky as me."

Donate to the fundraiser HERE