WALL OF HONOUR - Window cleaner creates giant mural to NHS hero fundraiser Captain Tom Moore on the wall of his business
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
A company boss has paid tribute to Captain Tom Moore by having a giant mural of the NHS fundraising hero spray-painted on the side of his business.
The stunning graffiti artwork adorns the walls of Bradley Scott Windows in Tamworth, Staffs., after being unveiled on Monday (27/4).
Director Andy Farrington, 57, said he wanted to come up with a unique way to honour the 99-year-old war veteran who has captured the hearts of the nation.
The former army officer has raised more than £30 million for the NHS by walking laps of his garden in Marston Moretaine, Beds., ahead of his milestone 100th birthday.
The incredible artwork by Graffiti by Title took six hours to complete and covers the 140 sq ft wall at the side of the showroom with the words "Thank You NHS."
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Andy said: “I was just totally inspired by Captain Tom and the phenomenal amount of money he has raised.
“On his walks, he has just kept going and going and going. I wanted to do something to honour him.
“We have done murals before and we had the blank space so I thought it would be nice to do some artwork of Captain Tom.
“He is an old school gentleman with a never die attitude that helped make Britain great, that's why we have taken to him I think.
"We should learn off him. He is a wonderful man.
“At 99, he gets up and does that. It’s simply amazing. He just puts a smile on peoples places in these difficult times.
“I am struggling like hell with my business, but it is good to give back a bit."
Graffiti by Title only had a few pieces of paper with four pictures of the pensioner for reference and completed the piece in under a day.
Married dad-of three Andy added: “That’s all he had to work with. One picture with his head and shoulders and one with him on his zimmer frame.
“He had one with the NHS logo on it and then another of the soldiers in the background. That was it. It's absolutely amazing what he has been able to do. It looks incredible.
“He started at 10am and finished at about 4pm. He has made it so lifelike. It looks like it could be a print but it's not, it's done by spray paint.”
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Andy says the reaction to the display has been “absolutely crazy” with people flocking far and wide to come and take pictures.
He said: “I felt a bit bad with the number of people coming to see it, what with social distancing in place, but loads of people have come from everywhere to have a look at it.
“We've had cars stopping in the road and people getting out to take pictures. It has just been absolutely crazy how popular it has been.
“I thought it would get some local recognition but nothing like this scale.
“I have had messages from people in Belfast, one from Canada on social media. People have been so taken with the artwork.
"It's mad, I never expected this scale of reaction or how far it has spread."
Captain Tom, who served in World War Two, also recently topped the charts singing a duet of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with musical theatre star Michael Ball.
He is the oldest person ever to get a UK number-one single and was honoured with a Pride of Britain award last Thursday (23/4).
Video by: Gabriella Petty
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT -This mesmerising footage shows a talented group of skydivers moving in a perfectly synchronised pattern that looks like a SPEEDING TRAIN
Image by: Matt Leonard
This mesmerising footage shows a talented group of skydivers moving in a perfectly synchronised pattern that looks like - a SPEEDING TRAIN.
The footage shows a skills training event known as ‘Flock and flow’ organised by ‘Momentum flight’.
Momentum Flight team members Matt Leonard, Max Manow and Tom Baker were on site at Skydive City, Zephyrhills, Florida, USA, to teach the participants necessary and safe piloting skills.
The footage shows skydivers performing 360 degree rolls in the air and lining themselves up in perfect patterns.
The highlight of the day comes when a perfectly timed ‘train’ of skydivers speeds through the middle of two other lines of their fellow Skydivers.
The footage was captured by Momentum Flight on March 12th and 14th 2020, just days before the national shutdown brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic
Full time momentum instructor Matt Leonard, 29, from Boston, Mass., said: “I’m the youngest of the team and currently a full time instructor.
"I used to be an engineering manager but gave it up to travel the world and teach canopy piloting.
“There was about three months of group preparation for planning the jumps, testing out some new ideas, and then trying them out before the camp.
"Myself and Max Manow have been jumping together for over four years and have hundreds of jumps together doing stunt work, exhibition projects, having fun and try out new things to teach the world.
"Between the three of us we have collectively amassed more than 23,000+ jumps in the sport and bring that knowledge to the camps.
“This footage not only reminds me of a time not in quarantine but more seriously it reminds me of the impact we had on so many students lives in four days.
"The skills they learned, the excitement. This is what I see when I watch the footage.”
Video by: Matt Leonard
UK’s third-largest baby born weighing over a stone is already eating porridge and bursting out of size 9-12 month clothing - at FIVE MONTHS OLD
A baby born weighing 14lbs 15oz is now so big he's already eating porridge and bursting out of size 9-12 month clothing - at the age of just FIVE MONTHS.
Alpha Stone Mitchell, now 24 weeks, was crowned Britain's third largest new born when he arrived via c-section on 28th October 2021 at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
The tot is now a hefty 1st 10lbs and squeezing into size 9 to 12 month baby clothing - despite not yet being six months old.
Mum Cherral Mitchell, 31, says her little boy is now so chunky and hungry that she's having to wean him off milk and start him on soft foods.
He loves porridge and rusk biscuits - despite most babies not being ready to eat solids until they are at least six months old.
The mum-of-four, from Thame, Oxfordshire, said: “Alpha was a whopper.
"We knew he was going to be a big boy as my bump was huge, but we didn't realise quite how big he would be until he was here.
"I'd had three babies before and with Alpha it felt like we skipped the new born stage altogether - and went straight to him being three months old.
"He didn't fit into any new born or 0-3 month baby grows - he went straight to 3-6 month and quickly grew out of them.
"Even now he's in 9-12 month clothing, it's a little tight - it won't be long before he's in the next size.
"And I just found he wasn't feeling full enough after drinking his milk so I've had to start weaning him early.
"Now he gobbles up porridge and he loves rusk biscuits too.
"He's a growing boy."
Alpha’s considerable appetite leads him to eat baby porridge first thing in the morning, before drinking 7oz bottles of Aptamil baby milk every three hours and consuming a whole baby rusk in the evening.
Full-time-mum Cherral - who has Rouge-Angel, five, Lyon, three, and Twyla-Bay, one, with husband Tyson, 36, an electrical engineer, - said: “We just started introducing baby porridge because he still seemed hungry in the morning.
“He’s not quite six months yet, but it’s not affecting his digestive system so it’s fine.
“He also sleeps all night from his last bottle at 9 or 10 o’clock until he wakes at five or six, ready for his next one. He's a good baby."
None of Cherral's other children were as big as their little brother when they were born.
Cherral revealed: “None of my children weighed anywhere near 1.5st at Alpha’s age.
“And they only needed to be fed every four hours - he's definitely the greediest.”
“Because Alpha is so long, he’s not far off his one-year-old sister’s height so people actually say to me ‘ah you’ve got twins!’
“He doesn’t even fit in his carry cot anymore because he’s so long, so he sits in a car seat on the buggy instead.”
Twyla-Bay is only 10 months older than her younger brother, but Alpha already weighs just under 11lbs lighter than her.
Twyla-Bay and her two older siblings were delighted to welcome their baby brother when he returned from the hospital at the end of last year.
Cherral said: “His siblings absolutely love Alpha.
“They always want to hold and feed him and even put his dummy in before I even get a chance to, so they’re helping out a lot.”
During her 30-week scan, it became clear that Cherral was expecting a larger-than-usual baby, and at 36 weeks, her baby bump ballooned.
Doctors believed this was due to Cherral’s gestational diabetes diagnosis - a condition which caused Alpha to consume sugary amniotic fluids in the womb.
But despite doctors’ predictions, Cherral and husband Tyson could never have imagined their son would be born weighing over a stone.
Cherral said: “When we first saw him, my first thought was he was not going to fit into any of the clothes I’d brought in the hospital bag.”
“Tyson even had to go home to bring back some 3-6 month clothes for him.
“When he was first born, I suddenly thought ‘oh wow, you are a big baby’ and then started asking the midwives how big he was.”
Weighing 14lb 15oz, Alpha claimed the title of the UK’s third largest new born baby on record, closely following Guy Carr who measured 15lb 8oz at his birth in 1992, and George King who tipped the scales at 15lb 7oz in 2013.
After delivery, midwives started excitedly Googling the measurements of the UK’s heaviest new born.
Cherral recalled: “One of the anaesthetists admitted to me that Alpha’s birth was the first one she hadn’t cried at because she was just so shocked by his size.
"Everyone kept laughing when his head came out. My husband Tyson was like: 'He's a chunky boy'.
“Tyson still calls Alpha his future Strongman, and already says he’ll need to do some more weightlifting training to keep up with his son one day.”
iLOVE YOU - A wife who missed her husband's death by minutes found his final phone notes including how to pay the mortgage - and how much he loved her
A wife who missed her husband's death by minutes found his final phone notes to her including how to pay the mortgage - and how much he loved her.
Katie Coelho, 33, walked into the ICU seven minutes after Jonathan Coelho, 32, was pronounced dead of coronavirus.
She regretted being unable to say goodbye then discovered he had penned an incredibly emotional goodbye in an 170-word phone note.
Beneath instructions on how to pay the mortgage, Jonathan left messages for his wife and children - Braedyn, two, and Penelope, one.
Jonathan wrote it the day before he was placed on a ventilator at a hospital in Danbury, Connecticut.
The note includes reassurance that "if you meet someone, know that if they love you and the kids that I love that for you".
It added: "I love you guys with all my heart and you’ve given me the best life I could have ever asked for.
“I’m so lucky, it makes me so proud to be your husband and the father to Braedyn and Penny.”
The stay-at-home mum from Connecticut, USA, said: “I don’t think if I was in Jonathan’s position, I would have thought to write a note - but that’s just how Jonathan was as a person.
“Trying to understand how he was in that mental state is so hard, but it’s also not surprising because of how much he loved me and loved the kids.
“I turned on his phone to get some pictures and when his phone turned on, his call log was on because he had tried to call me.
“So I cleared that out and right behind it was his notes and at the top of it, it had some personal information - who to contact at his job, passwords and telling me that we had a safe that I didn’t know we had.
“He was the grown-up in the relationship!
“Then I started reading down and the first line said, ‘I love you guys with all my heart,’ and I just screamed.
“I kept reading and it clicked.”
Jonathan’s symptoms included a migraine and a loss of taste and he tested positive for Covid-19 on March 25.
After developing respiratory problems on March 26, he was admitted to hospital and placed on a ventilator on March 31.
One of the last conversations the pair had was when Jonathan first came off the ventilator on April 7 - he told Katie that he might be discharged soon.
On April 22, doctors called Katie at 2:15 am to say that she needed to come say goodbye.
Jonathan's ashes are now part of two grandfather clocks - one set to the time Braedyn was born, and the other to Penelope's birth time.
Katie and Jonathan met at Western Connecticut State University and would go on double dates with their partners at the time.
The pair eloped on Valentine’s Day in 2013 - and got married in sweatshirts in their living room.
They had a larger wedding with family and friends in December 2013.
Katie said: “I never felt so secure in who I was as a person until I became his wife, because he just never made me feel anything less than amazing.
“It sounds so surreal because it’s like a person like that doesn’t exist, but he really did.
“He was my partner - there was nothing else I wanted to do except share my time, my laughter, everything with him.
She added: “Jonathan was just steadfast and I knew he loved me."
Note transcription:
“I love you guys with all my heart and you’ve given me the best life I could have ever asked for.
“I am so lucky it makes me so proud to be your husband and the father to Braedyn and Penny.
“Katie you are the most beautiful, caring, nurturing person I’ve ever met...you are truly one of a kind...make sure you live life with the happiness and that same passion that made me fall in love with you.”
“Seeing you be the best mom to the kids is the greatest thing I’ve ever experienced.
“Let Braedyn know he’s my best bud and I’m proud to be his father and for all the amazing things he’s done and continues to do.
“Let Penelope know she’s a princess and can have whatever she wants in life.
“I’m so lucky…”
“Don’t hold back and if you meet someone, know that if they love you and the kids that I love that for you.
“Always be happy no matter what!”
NEW YORK PROTEST ARREST - A British photographer has become one of the first members of the media to be arrested and charged while working at the American police brutality protests
A British photographer has become one of the first members of the media to be arrested and charged while working at the American police brutality protests.
Adam Gray, 33, a New York based photojournalist for agency SWNS, had been taking photographs at the rallies in city.
He says he was thrown to the ground by police with several officers climbing on top of him in order to restrain him and force him into handcuffs.
Despite showing his press pass that had been issued to him by the US State Department at the UN Plaza, Adam reports he was arrested and put into a police vehicle.
He was charged with unlawful assembly near Union Square and spent twelve hours through the night in custody amongst the protestors.
Adam said: "The whole time that I was being arrested, I was shouting that I was press and showing them my Foreign Press card but they just didn't seem to care.
"I get that in the heat of the moment you might get pushed or grabbed, but as soon as you say that you're press, it normally stops there but not this time.
"I've worked in many other countries doing work like this and never has it gone as far as this, I couldn't believe it."
Adam had been heading down 13st near Union Square on Saturday 30 May after filing Manhattan protest photos by Astor Place.
During his arrest, police claimed that they had made several orders for people to leave the area before Adam had arrived on the street.
Adam said: "I walked down the street taking photos as I went and then the cops rushed the crowd.
"I photographed the pandemonium that ensued of them pushing and grabbing protesters before one big cop came at me and pushed me to the ground with his truncheon to my chest.
"I smashed into the floor with my three cameras as three or four cops then got on top of me, restraining me and putting me in handcuffs as I shouted repeatedly that I was press."
Adam was put into a police van with about 20 other protesters and waited for half an hour inside before being driven down to 1 Police Plaza, Manhattan.
HE claims police were removing masks from the protesters and not returning them as they sat in close proximity to other people in holding.
Adam said: "I was explaining that I was accredited press at every opportunity.
"I got searched, processed, had my photo taken and then put into a large holding cell of 50-70 people at its fullest with zero social distancing.
"Police had removed masks from some protestors for their photo but then refused to give them back and did not offer any extra masks."
Adam was held in custody for eight hours until approximately 9:15AM on Sunday 31 May when he had his fingerprints and photos taken.
He was given a Desk Appearance ticket for a court date on 10 September 2020 for an offence charged of PL 240.10.
This offence means that 'a person is guilty of unlawful assembly when he assembles with four or more other persons for the purpose of engaging or preparing to engage with them in tumultuous and violent conduct likely to cause public alarm, or when, being present at an assembly which either has or develops such purpose, he remains there with intent to advance that purpose.
Adam was then released from the police station and is now back home in New York with a broken filter on his camera and a court date to wait for.
He said: "I was really shocked when they arrested me, I was just in total disbelief.
"We were held in such close proximity to other people in the holding cell and police weren't letting people have their masks.
"Considering there is a worldwide pandemic right now, it felt very irresponsible and dangerous of the police to do that.
"It was shocking to see how blase the police were about the risk of coronavirus and public health.
"Thankfully, I do not have any injuries but I am in disbelief at what happened."
Jon Mills, SWNS Picture Editor, said: ''It is deeply concerning that the NYPD appear to be trying to shut down honest and objective reporting.
''Bringing charges against a working photojournalist just for doing his job is an utter outrage and we will fight this every step of the way.'
CORONA RECOVERY - This is the heartwarming moment a husband and wife left hospital on the same day after RECOVERING from COVID-19
Image by: Simon Galloway
This is the heartwarming moment a husband and wife left hospital on the same day after recovering from COVID-19 as doctors and nurses cheered them on.
Jeff and Cheryl Poole received an emotional send-off from the entire staff with medics lining the hallways cheering and clapping as the couple were discharged.
The pair had spent more than two weeks in the ICU at UnityPoint Health Meriter in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, battling the deadly virus.
Cheryl, 59, was admitted to the ICU on March 18 and became the hospital's first patient to require a ventilator due for COVID-19.
Husband Jeff, 60, was admitted several days later and also needed a ventilator.
Jeff, from Waunakee, Wisconsin, said: "People keep saying this is a fake, it's not a fake.
She almost died. I almost died."
When the couple left the ICU, nurses placed them in neighboring rooms and helped them speak to each other on the phone.
Image by: Simon Galloway
Image by: Simon Galloway
Later they were able to have their meals together before they were discharged last week.
ICU nurse Beth Woodford said: "It was just really wonderful to see them communicate again.
"Of course being the wonderful person he is, Jeff gave Cheryl lots of words of encouragement. They both talked about getting better."
Beth Woodford said that the couples' recovery brought medical staff to tears.
She added: "There were a lot of tears of happiness in the room.
"The fact that they both made it through and they can get home together, it's just fabulous."
The married couple were finally discharged on April 17 after spending almost a month in hospital.
Nurse Dawn Cloutier added: "The send-off we had for them was a bit of a surprise to them and to me too honestly.
"It was just so cool to have people cheering them on as they left."
Jeff promised that once the threat of the virus has subsided, he and Cheryl will return to the hospital to see the staff who saved their lives.
"When everything is lifted, we can come back in here to see everybody."
Video by: Ashley Moran
PIPING A HERO - Former Labour advisor Alastair Campbell serenades dedicated NHS nurse on bagpipes as she returns home from gruelling hospital shift.
Image by: Jon Mills
Former Labour advisor Alastair Campbell serenaded a hero nurse home on the bagpipes after she finished a gruelling shift on a busy hospital ward.
Matilda 'Sissy' Bridge battled leukaemia from the age of two-and-a-half and joined the NHS to work with those who helped her beat the cancer and care for others.
Sissy, 27, now works as a nurse on the asthma ward at Whittington Hospital, Upper Holloway, London.
She and Campbell's comedian daughter Grace, 25, have been neighbours and friends since birth.
Image by: Jon Mills
Accomplished piper Alastair said: "Sissy and grace are great friends. Sissy had childhood leukaemia and was hospitalised for quite a while. That is part of the reason she became a nurse.
"It was an honour to march a heroine home from the front line - well done Sissy.
"And we did a nice hymn for the whole street who came out to thank Sissy and all who work in our wonderful NHS.
"We were also serenading Sissy's loving family, mum Victoria and older sister Florence, who worry about her every minute of every day.
"#clapforNHS. And, of course, the wonderful @RoyalFreeNHS."
Alastair, inspired by Sissy's childhood cancer battle, ran the marathon for Bloodwise charity in her honour.
He said: "I ran the marathon for leukaemia research in 2003 and her family donated £50k. I raised over £1million in the end."
Video by: Ellis Wylam
An arcade owner has put toilet roll, soap and hand sanitiser as prizes - in GRABBER machines
Image by: Adam Harnett
An arcade owner has put toilet roll, soap and hand sanitiser as prizes - in GRABBER machines.
Rob Braddick, 48, owns Ho Barts Amusement Arcade and noticed that stocks of toilet roll were running low in his local supermarket.
He then decided to buy as many as he could, and used his stock to replace the toys and teddy bears in his grabbing machines.
Rob said that there were still products available to buy in his area, but hoped that people would flock to his amusement arcade in Westward Ho!, Devon, when they got desperate.
Image by: Adam Harnett
Image by: Adam Harnett
Image by: Adam Harnett
Rob said: "We evicted the character from Frozen and the Peter Rabbit teddy bears and replaced them with hand sanitiser and toilet rolls.
"We also have a large machine that used to have a Spider Man doll, but now there is a large Curex soap in there - that's the Rolls-Royce of hand sanitisers.
"We test it, it's possible to win them but it is hard. We've lad people coming in to have a go but I don't think anyone has won yet.
"It's been a bit quiet so far but I think people will start coming in to have a look.
"There are still some toilet rolls on the shelves around here so I guess people aren't that desperate yet."
Rob also owns the nearby Braddick Holiday Centre, which employs around 100 people.
He said that they are taking the coronavirus scare very seriously, and have implemented a strict hand-washing policy for staff.
Rob continued: "We have a lot of staff at the holiday centre and the arcade, and we've put in measures where people have to wash their hands every half hour.
"So far the effect of the outbreak is unclear, we're still getting people ringing up and booking holidays - but it's early days and things could get worse."
Baker creates a LIFE-SIZED Karl Lagerfeld cake to mark the one-year anniversary of his death
Image by: Matthew Newby SWNS
A British baker has created a LIFE-SIZED cake of German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld to mark the one year anniversary of his death.
Confectionary artist Debbie Wingham, 38, used 195 eggs, 44lbs of sugar paste, 13 bags of flour and over 15,000 baby marshmallows to create the edible sculpture - which stands at 5'10 tall and weighs 287 pounds.
"I made it with all the vital statistics of the late, great Karl Lagerfeld," said Wingham, who spent 11 days building the creation for an unnamed German businesswoman.
“The person who commissioned it shares my passion for this legend in couture,” added Wingham.
The cake was even made to taste like the late Karl's favorite food, toasted corn bread.
"It is a sweet corn bread cake with honey salted butter frosting," said Wingham.
The sugary model depicts Lagerfeld in his signature black sunglasses, monochromatic
suit, fingerless gloves, and starched, detachable collar.
“Every detail in this cake embodies King Karl,” said Wingham who sculpted the legs from rice crispy treats, bonded with butter and marshmallows.
Image by: Matthew Newby SWNS
Image by: Matthew Newby SWNS
Image by: Matthew Newby SWNS
The facial likeness of the former Chanel honcho was achieved with the help of Israeli sculptor Mike Viner, who traditionally works in clay, but turned his hand to modeling chocolate on Wingham’s request.
“Working in modeling chocolate is a little different from what I’m used to, and I was somewhat worried when I accepted the challenge,” said Viner.
Adding: “But the result of both mine and Debbie’s sculpting skills together are the perfect combination.”
Wingham is hailed as one of the top sugar artists in the world, with clients including Drake, Tim Burton and Justin Bieber.
In 2018 she famously made a “cake-a-like of Kim Kardashian.
“
Sculpting Kim Kardashian’s curves in cake was no easy job,” she said.
“But making Karl was even more difficult.
“I have always had much admiration for Karl and every job I do is always important to me, but to date this cake was definitely my most important edible creation.
"I hope Karl would have approved.”
Karl Lagerfeld died in Paris, France on 19 February 2019 at the age of 85 after a battle with cancer.
Video by: Ashley Moran
GARDEN HORROR - A dad-of-two almost died after catching a rare flesh eating bug when he cut his hand GARDENING
Image by: Steve Palmer
A dad-of-two almost died after catching a rare flesh eating bug when he cut his hand GARDENING.
Steve Palmer, 34, nicked the middle finger on his right hand while clearing debris which had swept into his garden from a river during the recent floods.
He thought nothing of it until the next morning when his finger appeared red and swollen.
Steve went to work with his father-in-law but was stunned when his hand ballooned in size and his arm had turned black.
He was rushed to hospital where doctors diagnosed him with necrotising fasciitis, a potentially fatal flesh-eating bacteria.
Image by: Steve Palmer
Image by: Steve Palmer
Image by: Steve Palmer
He was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where surgeons operated to remove the dead and infected tissue from his arm.
A plastic surgeon was able to save his arm from being amputated and Steve is expected to take a year before making a full recovery.
Steve, who worked as an air conditioning engineer, has posted graphic pictures of his blackened arm on Facebook in a bid to warn others.
He said: “It was terrifying, it was like something from a horror movie. I could literally see my entire arm turning black.
“When the surgeon looked at my hand all the blood vessels in my knuckles had turned to mush.
“I just want to warn people to be careful and to wear gloves while gardening, particularly now that people will probably be spending more time in their gardens due to the coronavirus lockdown."
Steve was gardening with his wife Laura, 34, at their home in Polesworth, Warks., on March 7 when he cut his finger.
He said: "Me and my wife were in the garden tidying up.
“We live on the back of the River Anker which had flooded a couple of weeks earlier and messed the garden up a bit.
“We’d waited for the weather to get better so we could clean up.
"While I was clearing reeds which had been swept into the garden from the river I got a
little nick on my finger.
“I didn’t even notice it, I get little cuts all the time at work and just cracked on but there must have been all sorts of bacteria from the floods which got into the cut.
"The next morning I was meant to help my father-in-law do some cementing at his farm but when I looked at my middle finger it had swelled up and was red.
“I felt a bit soft for saying I couldn’t help him but went round anyway and played with the kids and on the piano but I could hardly move my finger.
“I said to Laura 'that starting to look a bit infected'.
"When I got home my knuckles were swollen and the infection had started to spread up my arm."
Image by: Steve Palmer
Image by: Steve Palmer
The next day Steve was taken to Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids., by his friend and was told to wait in A&E.
Steve, who is dad to three-year-old Jacob and seven-year-old Charlie, said: “The doctor said he thought it might be sepsis and cellulitis so put me on a saline drip overnight
and gave me paracetamol because my temperature was very high.
“The next day I was transferred to hand specialists at the QE in Birmingham where a surgeon told me again he thought it was sepsis.
“I was taken down to surgery and was operated on for four-and-a-half hours.
“When I came round doctors told me that they discovered it was actually necrotising fasciitis which is quite rare.
“The blood vessels under my knuckles were mush so the surgeons had to wash all of the infection away and pull down skin from my forearm onto the tendons before taking a skin graft from my leg onto my arm.
“I was very lucky and could easily have died. The surgeons saved my life and my arm.
“I’m back home but I’ve been told it’ll take 10 to 12 months before I can hold tools again. I’ve got two per cent use of my hand at the moment.
“It’s going to be a long long journey back to recovery. I just want to warn everyone now to wear gloves in the garden.
“It was a tiny cut I had on my hand but it was enough to let the bacteria in which almost killed me.”He was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where surgeons operated to remove the dead and infected tissue from his arm.
A plastic surgeon was able to save his arm from being amputated and Steve is expected to take a year before making a full recovery.
Steve, who worked as an air conditioning engineer, has posted graphic pictures of his blackened arm on Facebook in a bid to warn others.
He said: “It was terrifying, it was like something from a horror movie. I could literally see my entire arm turning black.
“When the surgeon looked at my hand all the blood vessels in my knuckles had turned to mush.
“I just want to warn people to be careful and to wear gloves while gardening, particularly now that people will probably be spending more time in their gardens due to the coronavirus lockdown."
Steve was gardening with his wife Laura, 34, at their home in Polesworth, Warks., on March 7 when he cut his finger.
He said: "Me and my wife were in the garden tidying up.
“We live on the back of the River Anker which had flooded a couple of weeks earlier and messed the garden up a bit.
“We’d waited for the weather to get better so we could clean up.
"While I was clearing reeds which had been swept into the garden from the river I got a
little nick on my finger.
“I didn’t even notice it, I get little cuts all the time at work and just cracked on but there must have been all sorts of bacteria from the floods which got into the cut.
"The next morning I was meant to help my father-in-law do some cementing at his farm but when I looked at my middle finger it had swelled up and was red.
“I felt a bit soft for saying I couldn’t help him but went round anyway and played with the kids and on the piano but I could hardly move my finger.
“I said to Laura 'that starting to look a bit infected'.
"When I got home my knuckles were swollen and the infection had started to spread up my arm."
Image by: Steve Palmer
Image by: Steve Palmer
The next day Steve was taken to Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids., by his friend and was told to wait in A&E.
Steve, who is dad to three-year-old Jacob and seven-year-old Charlie, said: “The doctor said he thought it might be sepsis and cellulitis so put me on a saline drip overnight
and gave me paracetamol because my temperature was very high.
“The next day I was transferred to hand specialists at the QE in Birmingham where a surgeon told me again he thought it was sepsis.
“I was taken down to surgery and was operated on for four-and-a-half hours.
“When I came round doctors told me that they discovered it was actually necrotising fasciitis which is quite rare.
“The blood vessels under my knuckles were mush so the surgeons had to wash all of the infection away and pull down skin from my forearm onto the tendons before taking a skin graft from my leg onto my arm.
“I was very lucky and could easily have died. The surgeons saved my life and my arm.
“I’m back home but I’ve been told it’ll take 10 to 12 months before I can hold tools again. I’ve got two per cent use of my hand at the moment.
“It’s going to be a long long journey back to recovery. I just want to warn everyone now to wear gloves in the garden.
“It was a tiny cut I had on my hand but it was enough to let the bacteria in which almost killed me.”
