In 2023, a then 33-year-old Stephen Raine was admitted to the Wexham Park Hospital after he sustained major injuries to his right hand in a DIY accident at his home. Raine is a piano teacher and a concert pianist. 

At the time of his accident, Raine was using a circular saw when it abruptly kicked back from the wood he was cutting and landed on his right hand, severing his index, middle and ring fingers, and completely severing the little finger.

In the 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. Subsequently, doctors were forced to amputate it in what was described as a huge psychological blow to Raine, SurreyLive reported. 

Following years of therapy, multiple surgeries, and relearning how to play piano with four fingers on his injured hand, he has now successfully returned to playing, almost two years after the accident.

 

 

“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,” Raine said. “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.”

“Stephen initially had three casts that he wore consecutively for a total of nine to 10 weeks,” said Gaby Willis, an occupational therapist who helped Raine’s recovery. “By September 2023, he had remarkable gains in his index finger and middle finger … [following another surgery in December] 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.”

“Recovery showed me that resilience isn’t a grand trait, it’s a daily practice, small victories, small decisions to keep going,” Raine shared. “That consistency, even in imperfect form reminded me that momentum can restart from the smallest place, and that creativity can endure and even flourish through adversity. I’ve learned that setbacks don’t erase your path; they rewrite it. 

“At first my injury felt like a huge loss, but over time, I realised it was an invitation to grow in a direction I wouldn’t have chosen,” he added. “I thought recovery meant getting back to where I was before. But I’ve learned it’s not about going back at all. It’s about how we create something new from what’s left. We don’t choose what breaks us, but we do choose what we create from the pieces.”