Meningitis: Hand transplant patient warns of virus dangers

Mike Davies underwent a pioneering double hand transplant after falling ill on Christmas Day 2017

Bob Dale

BBC News, South East

Sara Smith

BBC News, Brighton

A man who underwent pioneering transplant surgery after contracting meningitis is backing a push to eradicate the virus.

Mike Davies, from Brighton, lost both hands and feet after falling ill on Christmas Day 2017.

He is now one of only 10 people in the country to be have been given a new set of hands from a donor.

He said: "What a tremendous gift to give. I want to live through these hands and give them the life they now have given me."

Mr Davies now campaigns to raise awareness of the risks of the disease.

On Friday he will address a meeting in Paris of the World Health Organization, which has drawn up a global road map to defeat meningitis by 2030.

He also visits colleges to persuade students to take up the meningitis vaccine.

He said: "They might say, 'I don't like needles'. "I say, 'In my first five months after I lost my hands and legs, I had 400 jabs'.

"That persuades them to come and have one."

Mike also lost his feet to meningitis

He describes his new hands as "a work in progress".

He said: "My left hand can't catch, my right hand can, a little.

"They're becoming very useful. I can now pick up two things at once, even though the muscles are not working yet.

"I open a door, I now use hand controls for driving."

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