Father builds guillotine and chops off his own hand in bid to end years of agony after accident left him in pain but doctors did not help…and it still hurts
A motorcycle crash victim has amputated his injured hand with a homemade guillotine to end 16 years of unbearable pain only to find his arm still hurts.
Desperate Mark Goddard, 44, says he was driven to cut it off because the NHS refused to, and even burned his severed limb to ensure surgeons could not reattach it.
The father-of-one took a fortnight to build the guillotine using an axe, some springs and an old gate post, which took his left hand off ten days ago.
But unfortunately the DIY amputation in his garden, carried out without any anaesthetic, has failed to take away the pain that has tormented him since he was 28.
Mr Goddard from Newton Abbot, Devon, has now told his local hospital that unless they cut his arm off from the elbow by December he will do it himself.
The unemployed former garage owner, who is right handed, says his severe pain began after a 1998 motorbike accident left him with nerve damage.
But doctors refused to operate because they considered his hand and wrist healthy, he said.
‘I should not have to go to such extremes to get my pain stopped,’ Mr Goddard said.
‘There was an alternative and that was having it done properly in hospital. But no one would do anything to help me – so I did it myself.
‘I got rid of it because they told me they had problems amputating my arm with a good hand on it.
‘So It took it off myself and now there is no reason why the can’t operate.’
When he sliced it off his horrified wife Samantha came home ten minutes later and found her husband had tossed the severed limb onto a fire in the garden.
She called the emergency services but by the time police and paramedics arrived the hand had been too badly burnt to be saved.
Mr Goddard says he lost two pints of blood but paramedics were able to stabilise him.
He previously tried to use a knife to remove his hand but only managed to severe three tendons and a nerve.
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WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW
Grim: This is the contraption used to slice off the limb, which took it clean off. Mr Goddard then threw his hand on a fire to stop anyone reattaching it
Determined: The stump of Mark Goddard’s arm after he chopped his own hand off after years of battling with the NHS
Sabotage: As soon as his hand was removed he tossed it into a fire he started in this bucket to ensure it could not be reattached
Mr Goddard says doctors now have no excuse not to operate.
WHAT IS NEUROPATHIC PAIN?
- Discomfort comes from problems with signals from the nerves
- Occurs when the function of the nerve is affected in a way that sends pain messages to the brain
- Traditional painkillers do not usually help
- However, it is often eased by antidepressants or anti-epileptic medicinest
- Pain is often described as burning, stabbing, shooting or aching
- It can be caused by MS, chemotherapy, NHV, alcoholism or nerve disorders
- It is estimated to affect about seven in every 100 people and is more common in older people
The former biker hopes he will now get a more ‘reasonable hearing’ from medics now they can see how determined he is.
He takes 40 painkillers a day but wants a device called a spinal stimulator implanted into his back to ease his pain.
Mr Goddard said: ‘There should never have been any need for me to do this.
‘It would have spared so much distress all round but it was the only way. At least if I do have the treatment it will I need it will give me and my family our lives back.
‘I’ve told them that if nothing is done, I will take the arm off above the elbow myself. I’ve given them until the end of December.’
Mr Goddard insist he has undergone three psychiatric evaluations and passed all of them and police admitted that he was still ‘rational’ after his amputation.
He also says he barely felt anything as his homemade guillotine came down because he used a weight strapped to it to ensure it had enough force to amputate his hand.
The first blow sliced though the bone but did it not sever all the tendons, leaving his hand hanging off.
Previous attempt: The father-of-one had in the past tried to cut his hand off with a knife – but failed – so decided on a guillotine
His family have since dismantled his device and banned him from going into the tool shed where he built it in secret.
‘I bought an axe and got some bits of wood together before assembling them in the shed.
‘It took me two weeks to build because I had to wait until my wife was out of the way.
Plan: Mr Goddard said he waited for his family to be out of the house before he sliced off his hand. He is now banned from the shed where he made the guillotine in secret
‘On the day itself I planned everything to a tee. I got my wife cleaning the car and went down to the shed, assembled the gadget outside, put my arm under it, looked away – and dropped the axe.
‘At first I didn’t think it had worked because I didn’t feel anything – but then I looked down and could see the bone cut through.
‘There was a little flesh and tendons still there so I used a scalpel to remove them, that was the painful bit.
‘I used three bandages and cable ties to contain the blood before scalding the artery.
‘I then texted my wife to call an ambulance and went inside to admit what I’d done. She was horrified.
‘The blood was going everywhere so my wife got a hose out to hose down all the blood and mess.
‘She called the emergency services and the police and ambulance turned up.’
The former garage owner had suffered excruciating nerve pain since he was in a motorbike accident when he was 28 years old.
He was riding through London when a car came speeding around a corner and knocked him off, cracking a vertebrae in his neck, damaging his spine and shattering his clavicle.
Calm in a crisis: After the guillotine struck a blow he used a scalpel to separate it and then used bandages and cable ties to stem the flow of blood
A piece of plastic became embedded in his arm, damaging nerves and condemning him to a lifetime of pain.
Mark added: ‘I’ve been experiencing chronic pain ever since my accident but they refused to amputate because my hand is still useful
‘I’ve explained to doctors, psychologists and specialists that if this pain isn’t stopped I would remove the limb myself.
‘I’m still in a lot of pain. I knew it would still hurt above the elbow but without the hand they have have no excuse to keep the arm’.
Mark’s wife Samantha, 43, who has supported his efforts to have his arm surgically removed, told The Sun: ‘ I knew he was up to something that day, but I thought he was planning a secret treat as a surprise.
‘When I came into the house and saw the blood everywhere I said “Oh God – what have you done?” I couldn’t believe it.’
Devon and Cornwall Police said officers could do nothing to save the hand after being alerted to the self-mutilation at 1:40pm on March 17.
In the past: Mark, aged 20, on his wedding day shaking the hand of his best man. But his life changed after motorcycle accident eight years later where he suffered broken bones and nerve damage
The NHS Trust maintains it tries to avoid amputation if at all possible because it will not always remove pain.
‘We were very sorry to learn that Mr Goddard had amputated his hand. We will continue to support him through our orthopaedics and pain management services,’ a spokesman said.
‘It would be wrong of us to comment on the details of his specific case, as that would breach our duty of confidentiality. However, doctors always try to avoid amputation if they possibly can, particularly for patients with non-paralyzed limbs.
‘There is no evidence that amputation removes pain. In fact nerve pain is often generated in the spinal cord, rather than in the painful limb itself; so for many people, the pain continues. They can also get phantom limb pain after amputation, and therefore may be in a worse situation than they were before’.
Filed under: General Problems
Give that man a hand.
I don’t know which is more heartbreaking; the horror of what this poor man is going through or the fact that you could find humor in the needless suffering of a innocent fellow HUMAN BEING!
This is heartbreaking! It shows what humans are willing to do just to get rid of the agonizing pain. They become desperate when no one listens (completely understandable). I’ve heard of animals chewing their own limbs off when their limb becomes injured and causes them horrific pain. Humans are not that much different, as severe pain can torture the one who is experiencing it.
Exactly right Tracey! Yet those that are SUPPOSED to be medical experts (Dr. Kolodny & PROP) think that we just need to learn how to deal w/ pain mentally in order to be able to get on w/ our lives! Which translates to, “Suck it up & shut up, you big cry baby”!!
Is not the WHOLE purpose of medicine to alleviate suffering in order to give life quality? Some may argue that the purpose is to prolong life by healing; but what about those that cannot be healed? What good is a long life w/o any quality & where there is only pain & suffering?
I don’t know if cutting off this man’s hand was the right answer or if there was some other treatment/meds. that could have helped; but what I do know for a fact, is that ignoring him as a severely suffering HUMAN BEING is ABSOLUTELY & COMPLETELY WRONG!!!!!
That’s what sucks the most about neuropathic pain…..you can cut off what hurts…..and damned thing STILL HURTS!!!