Peter Walsh, a 65-year-old man who also goes by the name Plumber, was the first man in Australia to receive a hand transplant. Mr. Walsh, from Cobden in Victoria is very excited about having one of his hands back after he lost both of them, as well as part of his left leg and part of his right foot to an infection four and a half years ago.

His son, Wayne, said that the thing he would be most excited about was the new ability to play with his 16 grandkids. “Saturday mornings he’d always be there if they were going to play sport or just playing with them in general, having a catch of the ball”, said Wayne.

Mr. Walsh has even already begun to wiggle his fingers within the bandage although the lead surgeon said he will have to undergo a lot of physiotherapy and hoped that he wouldn’t wiggle his fingers too much before he was ready. Within a few days, he should be able to start physiotherapy where he will be able to move his tendons around with supervision from doctors.

When asked about his future plans with his new hand, Mr. Walsh said he would like to toss the coin at the grand final this year. But in the end, he just said he was happy to have survived his infection and to be alive.