Fife man almost dies after glass shard cuts artery

Shocking pictures of Paul Blundell’s blood-stained house reveal the horrifying extent of his injuries from two tiny cuts on his ankle.

His flatmate Adam Johnston (25) dropped a glass after having a gin and tonic, and a shard jumped up and nicked Paul’s ankle, cutting a major artery. The 30-year-old didn’t even feel the cut – and only noticed the pool of blood around his feet.

Medics had to stick their fingers in his open wound to stem the blood before the artery was tied off, and Paul said he was lucky not to die from blood loss.

Paul, from Kennoway, said: “I was stood there and the blood was pumping out of me. It was so scary – to think that small cut could do that damage.

“I could have easily died if I had lost any more blood. I got to the hospital just in the nick of time – if I had been another five minutes I would have been dead. I can’t believe how quickly it all transpired from smashed glass.”

Paul, an autism practitioner, was making a sandwich when Adam dropped the crystal glass on the floor.

The heavy glass smashed but a shard of it bounced back up off the floor, hitting Paul’s ankle and rupturing a major artery in his leg.

Web developer Adam said: “We were having a gin in the house and I just dropped the glass when I went to put it at the sink. It bounced back up and hit a part of his ankle where there is a major artery.

“I don’t think either of us really realised what had happened or how bad it was initially until we saw the blood – it’s like when you don’t feel the pain until you see the injury.

“It was something so small that became so serious. I called an ambulance in hysterics. I am not good with blood. It took a while to come so I got towels because the blood was everywhere and the towels were drenched.

“Meanwhile, the colour was draining from Paul’s face because he was losing so much blood. Every time we thought the bleeding had stopped it would start again. It was so scary and so stressful.”

Paul was rushed to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, but they did not have any vascular surgeons so he had to go to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

Once there Paul was taken into surgery to have the end of the artery tied off.

Paul added: “When I got there and they moved me to the vascular unit my ankle started bleeding again. He couldn’t stop the bleeding so the doctor had to stick his finger right in my ankle to try and stop it. They told me I must have lost around three pints of blood at home and then another two in hospital.”

Paul spent three days in hospital and had eight stitches in his ankle which is still bandaged up. He thanked medics who helped save his life, adding: “Staff at both hospitals were absolutely amazing and extremely professional and I can’t thank them enough.”