Gardener cuts off arm in chainsaw accident

12:10am Tuesday 30th September 2008

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A gardener cut off his arm in a freak chainsaw accident - and his neighbour tried to save the severed limb by putting it in a bag of frozen pastries.

John Stirling, 59, was tonight undergoing emergency surgery with doctors trying to reattach his arm.

Neighbour Steve Francis told how Mr Stirling calmly knocked on his door and said: “Please help, I’ve just cut my arm off.”

Mr Francis, 49, said: “He wasn’t screaming, he was as relaxed as can be.

“I didn’t realise anything was wrong until I looked down and saw his arm was missing.

“I ran inside to call the ambulance and he sat outside on a stool.

“I came out and tied his arm up with a belt and towels, the ambulance people talked me through it.

“But through it all he sat there talking away like it was normal.

“When the ambulance came they put him on a stretcher and asked where the arm was.

“The paramedics were working on him so I went up the road and put it in a plastic Tesco shopping bag.

“I then put it in another bag with frozen pastries in to keep it cold.

“Then I gave the bag to one of the paramedics and they took it to hospital in the ambulance.

“He’s a brave man, I’ll give him that. I couldn’t believe he didn’t faint.”

The ambulance arrived at the house in Ambleside Avenue, Telscombe Cliffs, at 11.14am today and took him to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton before he was transferred to the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead.

Mr Stirling, a father, who has lived in the house since 1980, is believed to have been cutting a tree when his chainsaw slipped and ripped through his arm. Mr Francis said he cut his arm off from below the elbow.

Mr Francis said: “He was gardening. He came over to me because he knew I would be home because I’m doing decorating work.

“You wonder how you will react when you come across an accident, whether you will do the right thing, but I’m glad I reacted the way I did.

“I wouldn’t say I was brave, I just didn’t have a choice.

“It is surprising what you will do when you have to.”

Mr Stirling was still in the operating theatre late this evening. His condition was described as critical.