Boy, 11, rips off 2 of his fingers after they were impaled on spikes at the top of a 10ft fence he scaled

December 2, 2016

Tommie Randall lost his little and ring finger on his left hand when he fell
His mother and a member of the crowd searched the ground for the digits
However, surgery to re-attach both of his fingers proved to be successful
Experts predict he will regain movement and feeling in them both soon

Stephen Matthews For Mailonline

Published:
10:59 EST, 2 December 2016

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Updated:
11:03 EST, 2 December 2016

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An 11-year-old boy’s fingers were ripped off after he caught them on a spike while climbing a fence.

Tommie Randall had lost his footing while scrambling over a 10ft high fence to watch a motocross competition his stepfather was practicing at.

As he fell, his little finger and ring finger on his left hand got impaled on the spikes at the top and were torn off.

While laying on the floor bleeding, his mother and a member of the crowd frantically searched for the digits so they could be taken to hospital to be reattached.

But a surgeon was able to put them back on his hand and it is expected he will regain movement and feeling in them soon.

Tommie Randall, 11, lost his left and ring finger when he lost his footing while scrambling over a 10ft high fence to watch a motocross competition his stepfather was practicing at. Thankfully, surgeons managed to re-attach his fingers

His mother, Sarah Randall, from Poole, Dorset, 34, said: ‘Tommie didn’t initially realise that he had lost his fingers. He wasn’t aware of a lot of pain to start with.

‘He called for me but we were on opposite sides of the fence and we had to wait for half-an-hour for someone who had keys for the gate to come so that I could get to him.

‘When I saw his hand, I said “where’s your fingers?”‘

Tommie said: ‘I wanted to go and watch. Normally there’s a hole in the fence, but this time it wasn’t there. I was that desperate to see the motocross that I climbed the fence.

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‘I got over but I slipped as I was coming down the other side. I tried to grab the fence, but there were spikes.’

He was immediately taken to the medical room at the Arena Essex Raceway, near Purlfeet, Essex.

Ms Randall eventually found his little finger by the fence by while a stranger managed to pick up his ring finger near the fence.

By the time he reached hospital he had lost half a pint of blood and immediately underwent a nine-hour operation to repair the damage.

He underwent a nine-hour operation to repair the damage and re-attach his two digits (pictured with stepfather Antony Stickley, mother Sarah Randall, 34, and consultant plastic surgeon Manu Sood, at the St Andrew’s Centre, in Chelmsford)

After the successful surgery, Tommie said: ‘I wanted to go and watch. Normally there’s a hole in the fence, but this time it wasn’t there. I was that desperate to see the motocross that I climbed the fence’

Consultant plastic surgeon Manu Sood, at the St Andrew’s Centre, in Chelmsford, managed to re-attach both digits.

However, the surgery was complicated by the fact the amputation was not clean.

The fingers had been ripped off of Tommie’s hand causing severe injury to the muscles, tendons and nerves in his thumb.

Dr Sood said: ‘Tommie’s two fingers were pulled off, which makes it much more difficult than a clean-cut amputation.

‘This mechanism of injury is unusual – the severity is unusual and the involvement of three digits is extremely unusual.

‘When one replants, or reattaches, the fingers, the patient has the full span of the hand and the use of their hand for power grip – the ring and little finger are very important. With this procedure, Tommie will be able to grip.

‘As Tommie is young, I expect him to be able to develop reasonably good nerve sensation. He may not have full movement, but I expect him to have a functional hand.’

Tommie stayed in hospital for two weeks after the accident last month and is continuing to recover and undergo physiotherapy.

Ms Randall said that he may need future operations to restore the function in his hand in the future.