The patient, an employee of the finance ministry of the government of Honduras, had his left hand severed by a machete. His wife picked up the hand and rushed it and her husband to the local hospital, where an orthopedic doctor iced the hand and arranged immediate transportation to a hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Dr. Emec Cherefant, the plastic surgeon, needed a special surgical microscope to perform the delicate procedure. Donated by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Honduras, it had arrived just three days before. But it was not yet unpacked and had been locked in the hospital's maintenance department. Because the accident happened on a Saturday when the hospital engineer was not available, the hospital director approved breaking down the storage door to reach it.

"I was familiar with the model, so we put it together," Cherefant said, "and began the surgery at 10:00 p.m. and were finished at 8:00 a.m. the next day." The patient could flex his fingers and "will be able to use his hand after months of therapy," the doctor said. He describes working in plastic surgery as the "most splendid expression of the power of God." This was his third hand reattachment in 10 years.