A man who cut off his arm in a freak chainsaw accident has had it sewn back on in a 14-hour emergency operation.

John Stirling, 59, cut off part of his left arm while gardening on Monday morning.

Mr Stirling, who is manager of Newhaven Marina, underwent the surgery through the night under a team of four surgeons.

The team worked on the operation to reattach Mr Stirling’s arteries, muscles, nerves and tendons.

The severed arm, cut just below the elbow, was preserved at the scene by quick-thinking neighbour Steve Francis, who put it in a bag with frozen pastries to keep it cold and handed it to paramedics.

Mr Francis said his neighbour calmly knocked on the door of his home in Ambleside Avenue, Telscombe Cliffs, and said: “Please help. I’ve just cut my arm off.”

Mr Francis, who strapped up his neighbour’s arm with a belt and towels to stem the flow of blood, 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.”

A spokesman for the hospital said Mr Stirling was in a stable condition but said his recovery was still in the very early stages.

He added: “Mr Stirling has been doing very well.

“He is comfortable and early indications are that the procedure to reattach his lower arm went well.”

It is understood Mr Stirling was cutting a tree in his garden when the chainsaw slipped and tore through his arm.

He was initially taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton but was later transferred to the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, where the operation took place.

His family expressed their thanks to Mr Francis and other neighbours.

A colleague of Mr Stirling at Newhaven Marina, who asked not to be named, said: “We are all very shocked about what has happened.

“We are certainly all thinking of him and we wish him well to get better as soon as possible.”

Leave your messages of support for Mr Stirling below.