Jon Fenton fell from a fifth floor balcony – landing on his face – and breaking all his limbs. With 3D technoloy doctors were able to reassemble him
When he looks at his new face in the mirror it’s not quite the same Jon Fenton looking back. But it’s close.
And when you consider that surgeons have rebuilt his features by breaking every bone in his face then piecing them together with the help of a 3D printer, it’s little short of miraculous.
Another consolation for is that the only reason Jon did not die when he fell from a fifth-floor hotel balcony is that his face acted like a car’s “crumple zone” and protected his brain from serious injury
The shop worker from Nottingham had balanced on a chair to get a better view of Barcelona while on holiday, toppled over and fell head-first on to the ground below in front of his horrified fiancee Rachel West
Jon, 27, shattered dozens of bones in his face and broke all of his limbs.
Jon was flown back home to the UK a month after the accident and underwent weeks of pioneering reconstructive surgery.
Medics at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre used a 3D printer to create a model of his crushed skull which they used to rebuild his face.
They then re-broke nearly every bone in his face and reset them in a bid to return his appearance to how it was before the fall.
The painstaking 14-hour operation by surgeons in the maxillofacial department was a success and this week he returned home for the first time.
Jon, from Beechdale, Nottingham, is now planning on tying the knot with Rachel, 23 – who is delighted with his new looks.
It is a long way from the trauma that followed his horror fall from the fifth-floor balcony in Barcelona.
Jon and Rachel were staying at the £100-a-night four star Amaika Hotel in the Callela district of the city when the accident happened.
He broke his cheek, jaw, nose and punctured a hole in the roof of his mouth as well as smashing all his front teeth.
Jon also smashed his right wrist, four bones in his left forearm, and his right and left femurs.
The B&Q worker also suffered a dislocated right hip, broke both knee-caps and suffered massive internal chest injuries including multiple broken ribs.
He said: “I don’t remember the fall but I fell over a chair.
(Photo Credit: Daily Mirror)
“I was trying to get a good view of the city and must have tripped over it and went over the balcony.
“All I can remember is falling towards it – I fell four storeys – about 35ft onto a concrete garage roof.
“From then onward my fiancee filled me in on what happened.
“Coming back round I had no idea. I woke a few days afterwards and my mum and dad were there and I didn’t know why they were on holiday with me.
“They explained what happened. When I was in hospital it was very scary. I was on a hell of a lot of drugs and I was absolutely out of it.”
He was rushed to Barcelona’s Valbuena Hospital where medics saved his life and carried out the first of many operations.
Surgeons inserted metal pins into his left hip, both knees, both wrists, left femur, left forearm and put plates into his jaw and face.
“I had operations in Spain; surgery on my kneecaps, femur and my hip,” recalled Jon.
“I was in a bed in Barcelona for six weeks recovering before I was finally fit enough to fly back to Britain.
“When I came back to the QMC it was like a home from home – you could speak to everybody. It wasn’t like a hospital; it was relaxed and comfortable.
“Gradually over a few weeks I have got stronger and stronger and could go from wheelchair to walking frame to crutches.
“Then I could get to hospital more regularly for more intense physiotherapy.
“The work they do is incredible – they give you your freedom back. My recovery kicked off here.
“They’ve (the surgeons) literally given me my life back.
“I will keep working with the doctors and I will make it back to my best. I am so grateful. I know now to take life every day and enjoy it.”
Jon, who has lost four stone since his accident, now requires weekly physiotherapy sessions to help him regain full movement of his facial muscles.
Delighted Rachel, a trainee accountant, said: “The surgeons have just been fantastic with him. It’s a unique case and they have been so supportive.
“It’s given us the chance to look forward to something nice – our wedding. It’s not been the best year but we’re really positive now.
“Six months ago everything was looking really bad but his face operation has gone so well and he looks so much better. Before he was quite disfigured.
“It’s been a long year but it does feel as though there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We can enjoy things together and plan our wedding. It’s definitely made us stronger.”
During a 14-hour operation, surgeons used pictures of Jon before his accident to rebuild his features – which Spanish medics were unable to do.
Daren Forward, a consultant in orthopaedic trauma at the QMC, said: “If he had been here we would have done those operations here for him.
“But he highlights a different aspect of what we do, which I suppose is the rehabilitation we do as much as the surgery.
“He came back from Spain having never been out of bed and hadn’t made much progress. Within a day here he was out of bed and getting going.
“The challenge is getting them back into their normal life or as near normal as possible.
“He basically broke everything. Jon’s case was pretty much up there with as bad as it gets. All four limbs were severely broken.
“None of them were straightforward. His face almost acted as a crumple zone for his head.
“It meant that his brain wasn’t seriously injured and his chest and abdomen
weren’t seriously injured.
“You need to be on the fifth floor or above for 50 per cent of people to die – the body is a pretty amazing thing.”
Dr Dilip Srinivasan, who oversaw the process, added: “We have one of the best labs in the country.
“The quality of the work here is fantastic and that makes our job so much easier.
“We make the model and that gives us the exact view of the injury that we have. From there we can plan things and get ready to operate.
“It was 14 hours – it’s a big undertaking. We had to break nearly all the bones in his face. It’s like a jigsaw.
“It’s complex but it’s about planning well. We have to break it into small pieces and take a bit at a time. This is not an everyday thing.
“We’re quite pleased, but it’s about Jon and whether he is happy. There’s still more work to be done.
“It’s rewarding. The biggest reward is when patients say they are happy.”
