Concert pianist who sliced off finger after circular saw fell on him in DIY accident returns to stage

Stephen Raine, a 33-year-old piano teacher and concert performer, was admitted to the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust run Wexham Park Hospital after he sustained life changing injuries to his hand in a DIY mishap at his home in 2023.

The saw kicked back from the wood he was cutting and landed on his right hand, severely severing his index, middle and ring fingers and completely amputating the little finger.

In hospital he underwent more than eight hours of plastic replantation surgery to his fingers but within days the blood supply to his little finger began to fail – forcing doctors to amputate it in what had been described as huge psychological blow to Stephen.

Stephen then suffered a infection in his index finger and was given a 50/50 chance that it would survive surgery, according to details published in the Frimley Heath NHS Foundation Trust board papers.

However, following a ground breaking rehab process, and a lot of hard work from both doctors and Stephen – including relearning how to play piano with only four fingers on his injured hand, Mr Raine is once again back to teaching and performing, almost two years since the accident.

He said: “As I’d lost my little finger, I had to learn new finger patterns for the pieces I’d chosen, but I never thought I’d be able to play so freely and as well again and certainly not such as ambitious repertoire.”

He added: “The accident was traumatic at the time, but I feel very lucky since then.

“From my neighbour’s back door being open on the day it happened so I could call for help, doctors saving my index finger when it looked like I might lose that as well, then becoming one of Gaby’s patients just as she’d heard about this amazing technique to help me.

“My recovery has been better than I could ever have hoped for.”

He is speaking about Gaby Willis, an occupational therapist who saw YouTube videos of him performing formally and realised how devastating his injuries would have been for him.

The pair then worked together during weekly sessions; Stephen in an effort to relearn how to move his fingers, and Gaby using Stephen as a case study for her British Association of Hand Therapists (BAHT level 2) qualification.

He would have surgery and therapy, and have his hand recast, before repeating the process.

She said: “Stephen initially had three casts that he wore consecutively for a total of nine to 10 weeks.

“By September 2023, he had remarkable gain in his index finger and middle finger but his extensor tendon in the ring finger was tethered and required further surgery to improve this.

“He had the surgery in December 2023 and after initial healing had occurred, I put him back into casts for a further six weeks and then weaned him into a removable cuff cast.

“With perseverance and regular exercises, he was able to achieve an extraordinary outcome and regained finger flexibility required to play to the high standard he had been used to.

“He had to remap playing technique to omit the little finger and we worked on specific exercises with the remaining fingers, including the little finger stump, to maximise the span and stretch between the fingers and the thumb and ring finger in order to achieve octaves.

“I personally worked with Stephen in hand therapy for about 15 months.

“Throughout his whole journey he has always tried to remain positive and has used his experience to help and to motivate others.”

After the long journey together. Stephen was able to return to full function, his hobbies and was eventually able to play the piano again and perform recitals.

Gaby said: “I found it so incredibly moving to hear Stephen play, not just because he’s a great pianist but also knowing the emotional journey he had been on and how hard he had worked on his recovery.”