AN ENGINEER has thanked those who saved his life after a freak accident which resulted in 24 hours of surgery in less than six days.

John Dubery, from Dummer, was disposing of the hot coals from a barbecue in his greenhouse when he lost balance and fell through one of the glass panes, cutting one of the major arteries his right arm.

The incident happened when Mr Dubery, pictured with his wife Julie, was enjoying an evening with his family on Saturday, 14 October when his stepson Ben Chidwick was visiting from Canada.

The 54-year-old told The Gazette: “I looked down at my arm and saw that there was a significant amount of blood from near my elbow.

“My first thought was ‘oh dear this is bad’ and started making my way towards the house and that’s when my stepsons Ben and Judd came to help reduce the bleeding.My stepsons were amazing, I don’t know whether I’d be here without them.”

Ben and Judd Chidwick put pressure on his arm to significantly reduce the bleeding before paramedics attended and took over.

If they had not, things could have been a lot worse.

Mr Dubery was taken to Southampton General Hospital, where, due to the nature of the injuries, he had to have emergency surgery to restore the blood supply to his arm.

He added: “Everything happened really quickly once we got to the hospital, but, despite the seriousness of the injury, I could not fault the staff.”

By October 16, John had been transferred to Salisbury District Hospital, to have the nerves and other structures in his arm repaired.

Over a period of five-and-ahalf days, he had about 24 hours’ worth of surgery.

He added: “The amount of work done, the short time it was done in, the techniques and the attention to detail were all quite amazing.”

Currently Mr Dubery is at home recovering, doing various rehabilitation exercises.

As a keen organ player for various churches he told The Gazette it has been frustrating to not be able to partake in his hobbies but has had strong support behind him.

His wife, Julie Dubery, 62, said: “People have been queueing up to help him and everyone has been wishing John well on his recovery.”

Mr Dubery will have another operation next year to help finish with the restructuring work of his arm.

The electronics design engineer could not praise the work of the paramedics and hospital staff enough for the swift, friendly and professional manner they conducted themselves.

When asked what he would like to say to the NHS staff who help him, he added: “Just thank you so much for all the incredible work they have done, I cannot thank them enough.

“From the paramedics, to the nurses to the surgeons, they all did such amazing work which I will never forget.