Saw accident left guitarist's arm hanging by a thread

Keith Matheson said the accident felt like being in "a war movie"

A musician feared he would bleed to death when his arm was left "hanging by a thread" after an industrial accident at a Dundee school.

Guitarist Keith Matheson was working as a contractor at Forthill Primary when a circular saw caught his fleece and pulled his arm into the machine.

He said "panic set in" as he lay on the ground bleeding heavily.

Two school employees stemmed the bleeding and called an ambulance, then surgeons were able to save his arm.

Keith, who has worked with musicians including Dougie Vipond from Deacon Blue and Ged Grimes from Simple Minds, has spent two weeks recovering in Dundee's Ninewells Hospital after the 18-hour operation.

The accident happened in the grounds of Forthill Primary School on 4 April

The 58-year-old, who was born in Wick, said the accident happened when he moved a piece of wood out of the way as the saw was slowing down.

"It immediately pulled my arm into the saw and pretty much severed it," he said.

Keith said his arm had only been connected by a small piece of skin and muscle - but that there was initially no pain.

"It felt like someone had lightly punched me on the arm, I don't know if it was shock," he said.

"I was just looking at it, and it was just like a stump. It was a bit like a war movie. It maybe took me three or four seconds to kind of realise what it was and then panic set in."

Keith's Kekker project includes members of Simple Minds, Deacon Blue, and Idlewild

As he lay on the ground, Keith's first thought was that he would never play the guitar again.

He said: "Then I thought, I can't work - I'm an exhibition technician installing stuff, that's gone. What am I going to do with my life?"

One of the school's staff members rushed over, applied a tourniquet and called an ambulance. Another woman, who was previously a nurse, tied the tourniquet tightly to stop the bleeding.

Keith said: "I'm absolutely certain that saved my life, because there was a lot of blood."

He is full of praise for the women who came to his aid.

"It must have been very traumatic for them to see this thing happen," he said. "But they kept their heads and saved my life - they're heroes."

Reconnect blood vessels

When Keith arrived at Ninewells, a team of surgeons and anaesthetists were waiting to operate.

Consultant plastic surgeon Dr Kirsty Munro said: "The blood supply had been severed to his arm, and we have a short period of time to restore it so that the muscles and arm can survive."

Plates and screws were placed in Keith's forearm, then Dr Munro and her colleagues carried out microsurgery to reconnect the blood vessels.

Dr Munro said: "Once we've restored the blood supply to the arm you can relax a lot more, and it's a case of systematically going through all the structures that require repair."

She said Keith had suffered a very serious injury, and that it was "early days".

"But at the moment the blood supply to the arm is looking really good," she added. "It's a case of allowing for time, and for him to heal."

Keith said he was determined to play the guitar again

Keith said that when he came round from the surgery, he was fearing the worst.

"I honestly didn't think I was going to have an arm, because it was hanging on by a thread," he said. "I remember not wanting to look to my left-hand side, thinking it's going to be gone.

"But I woke up, and pretty much immediately could move two fingers."

The father-of-two said he was feeling positive about the future, despite the trauma and at least a year of recuperation.

He said: "I just feel happy to be alive and to have my arm complete.

"These guys worked so hard to save it and I want to get back to working and playing with it.

"Whether I can play guitar right-handed again, probably not, but I'm not breaking my heart about it.

"It's going to mend - I'm absolutely certain."

A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: "This incident is still subject to investigation. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage."