A BLAENAVON boy, who may lose the use of his right hand following losing fingers in a fence injury, has left hospital returning home to Torfaen.

Dylan Harding, 10, severely injured his hand while playing with friends, close to the Firs in the Torfaen town, on a metal fence which sliced his fingers off.

His mother, Anne Savery, was able to find some of the fingers, which were re-attached during 10 hours of surgery, and her son is slowly making progress.

“He is able to come home, but we are still going to the hospital twice a week so he can have his dressing changed and so the doctors can keep an eye on it,” said Mrs Savery, of Ty Fry, Blaenavon.

“He may still need further surgery but we are waiting to find out how it heals.”

Dylan, who is right-handed, will not be returning to school, Blaenavon Heritage, for the best part of a month, as he recovers at home.

“He was worried about being unable to play games, but he has found a way of playing his Xbox using his left hand and his nose,” said Dylan’s mum.

Mrs Savery added that her son only saw his hand for the first time last week, and although Dylan has seen pictures of his injury, he found the reality of his missing finger upsetting.

“It was the shock of seeing his hand in front of him, with his missing finger which we were unable to find,” she said.

“The hope is that he will regain the use of his right hand. He can wiggle the fingers a little and he has some feeling in the tips, but it is still early days.”

Dylan’s mum added that the fence which caused her son’s injury has a warning sign in place, and the council have worked with Welsh Water to fix a gap, which she believed her son climbed through before injuring himself.

“I know that this thing will hopefully never happen to another children in the area and suffer what Dylan is suffering,” said Mrs Savery.

“He is aware that this split second may have changed his life forever, but he is coming to terms with the injury.

“It is his birthday in July, and this incident means that he may not be able to go on the school’s three-day adventure break, which he was looking forward to. That’s been hard for him to take.

“However, a woman from Germany has contacted me and said that she has a very similar injury to Dylan. At first she hated it, but now she loves it. Hopefully Dylan can have the same experience too,” said his mum.