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Baseball player back throwing after losing hand in lawnmower accident

After a year and a half of intense physical therapy, Luke Brittain is back doing what he loves - throwing a baseball

CLEVELAND — The World Series starts tonight. Growing up a baseball fan, Luke Brittain always had dreams of playing in a big game. A year and a half ago, dreams of pitching in a game like that, or even pitching at all, were thrown into doubt. 

It was a freak accident. Brittain was mowing the side of a hill, when he slid into a ditch and fell face-first toward the lawnmower's blade.

"I just kind of had my hand in front of my face to protect it," Brittain said,  "and, I reached down in my pocket for my phone, and that’s when I realized my hand wasn’t there."

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Brittain was taken to the Cleveland Clinic where Dr. William Lanzinger was part of the team that tried to reattach Brittain's hand. According to Lanzinger, Brittain had injuries to every knuckle on every finger of his left hand. 

"What we ended up doing was putting a pin in every finger and in every joint," Lanzinger said. "I’m not sure I’ve ever done something like that before, so it kind of speaks to the level of his injury and how traumatic it was." 

The team was able to reattach the hand, but that was just the beginning. And now, with the help of five additional surgeries and intense rehab, Brittain is throwing again. 

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Britain's also using the experience to inspire local children. He's currently coaching at a local high school.

"If you really want to be successful, you don’t have a choice," Brittain said. "You have to keep working, and you got to keep pushing through, and I just kind of want to be a living example of that."

 

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