Felix on mend after power line tragedy and addiction battle

THE first man to have a full double arm transplant has revealed he can now flex his biceps.

Felix Gretarsson had the op on the 23rd anniversary of being electrocuted while trying to fix a power line, which led to his arms having to be amputated.

Grandad-of-two Felix, 49, has done hundreds of hours of rehab since waking in agony from the 15-hour transplant.

The arm nerves are growing 1mm a day, so he should have feeling in his elbows in a year and his hands in two.

The ex-electrician said: “The feeling in the nerves can be a little painful when they grow. I’m moving the elbow in water, my bicep is now working.

“I am so hopeful I am going to be able to move my hands, which nobody expected – except me.”

In January 1998, Felix touched the wrong wire and fell 32ft. He broke his back in three places, fracturing his neck, and his arms also caught fire.

Felix, of Kopavogur, Iceland, was in a coma for three months while doctors carried out 54 operations – including the amputations.

During this time doctors noticed Felix’s heartbeat increased when Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On was on the radio. He had seen Titanic in the cinema two days before the accident.

After waking up, he went off the rails and started abusing drink and drugs. He lost his career and girlfriend and could not see his two daughters, now aged 27 and 23.

Felix ended up in rehab and had two liver transplants in less than a year.

He said: “From there my life went straight up, I bought myself a company, a flat, a car I could drive with my feet.”

Felix was fitted with prosthetics but still yearned for real arms. In 2007, he saw a TV advert for a lecture by surgeon Dr Jean-michel Dubernard, who had done the first successful hand transplant.

He tracked him down and quizzed him on the possibility of full arm transplants.

Felix then moved to Lyon in France where he met his wife Sylwia Gretarsson, 33, before getting the surgery.

He said: “I have achieved something that wasn’t supposed to be possible.

“If I hadn’t lost my arms I wouldn’t be living in France with my wife. There’s always a silver lining to everything.”

I’m hopeful I’ll be able to move my hands as well

FELIX GRETARSSON ON INCREDIBLE RECOVERY