Put back together at UHN

Just one month after announcing his retirement from his law firm, Richard Stephenson’s life changed in a split second.

Richard and his wife Mary Jane had been looking forward to more time at their cottage in Minden, a small town in the heart of Haliburton cottage country. More golf, more woodworking, and more of life’s simpler pleasures waited after decades of hard work.

One crisp October morning found Richard and his family going through the yearly ritual of getting the cottage ready for winter – including cutting old lumber into kindling before the chilliest months arrived. To avoid getting sawdust in the garage, Richard took the table saw out onto the driveway and got to work.

Then the saw sliced off Richard’s finger.

“There was this six-inch blanket of leaves covering the driveway, so we couldn’t see where it fell,” Richard remembers. “I didn’t even know what I’d lost – I’m wearing work gloves, holding my hand with the other, and don’t even want to look at it.”

What followed was a race against time. Mary Jane rushed Richard to the nearby Minden hospital while their daughter Erin stayed behind to search the driveway. But when Erin arrived at the hospital later with Richard’s severed index finger, she was told the search wasn’t over. Richard hadn’t just lost his finger – he’d lost his thumb too.

Once his thumb and finger were recovered, an air ambulance helicoptered Richard into Toronto. He arrived at Toronto Western Hospital that afternoon, where Dr. Heather Baltzer, Division Head, Plastic Surgery, Sprott Department of Surgery, Director, Toronto Western Hand Program, Schroeder Arthritis Institute, UHN, took on his case. Richard recalls her team’s steadying effect even through the haze of medication. “Regardless of who it was, I always had this sense that they were professional and competent, and that was very reassuring.”

Dr. Baltzer initially reattached Richard’s thumb, but in the early hours of the following morning, it became clear the surgery hadn’t taken. She returned to Richard with the news: the index finger, which had been held in reserve in the initial surgery, would now be repositioned and reattached in place of the thumb – a complex procedure known as pollicization that lasted another five to six hours.

Richard’s case is a good example of why our highly specialized team at UHN matters. Every step required experience and judgment that you only develop by treating the most complex cases and is precisely the kind of care we are committed to providing, and precisely why the environment in which we operate matters so much.”

For weeks, Richard’s arm remained elevated. When the cast finally came off, he couldn’t bring himself to look at his hand.

Slowly however, that changed. Always a two-finger typist, he had to retrain himself, learning to use his middle finger where his left index finger had been. He even adapted his golf grip – creating an unconventional gap between his hands to manage residual sensitivity. In the summer of 2023, he returned to the cottage with a new safety-equipped table saw and built an outhouse from scratch – just twenty feet from where the accident had happened.

Richard’s case reflects the depth of expertise at the Hand Surgery Group at Toronto Western Hospital, one of the most specialized hand surgery centres in Canada, treating complex trauma, replantation, arthritis, paralysis, peripheral nerve reconstruction, and microsurgery.

“Hand injuries are very common, particularly among people in rural communities,” says Dr. Baltzer, who also serves as Director of the Hand Surgery Group and is Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. “Returning them to form and function isn’t just about healing — it’s about restoring their livelihood and quality of life.”

Opening its doors in 2028, UHN’s new Surgical Tower will represent a meaningful leap forward for hand surgery and all surgical specialties, including hand operations like Richard’s. Advanced microscope systems will enhance the precision of microsurgeries involving vessels, lymphedema treatment, and other delicate procedures.

“The new Surgical Tower will benefit our most complex cases,” notes Dr. Baltzer. “This new environment for surgeons and for patients to recover will make a meaningful difference in outcomes.”

For Richard Stephenson, the innovation and expertise at Toronto Western didn’t just save his hand. It saved his retirement and gave him back everything that comes with it. He and Mary Jane are still golfing, he’s still enjoying the cottage, and building projects like the outhouse – which stands as a testament to just how far he’s come.

“It was far from the most traumatic thing that can happen to somebody, but it was the most traumatic thing that had ever happened to me, and when somebody’s able to put you back together, you feel a sense of gratitude that is…it’s real.”