AMPUTEE SPECIALIST LOSES HAND IN FALL; CANCER SPECIALIST VOWS TO FIGHT BACK AFTER CLIMBING HORROR.

Byline: STEVE McKENZIE EXCLUSIVE

A LEADING Scots cancer doctor who cared for amputees has lost a hand and is paralysed after a horrific climbing accident.

Outdoor sports enthusiast Donald Bissett, 41, will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair - but he has already vowed to use his own agonising experience to ease the suffering of others.

With his wife Carol at his hospital bedside, he said: "I'm not going through this for nothing."

Photos taken moments before the accident show Donald smiling as he climbed crags in Glen Clova, on the fringes of the Queen's Balmoral estate.

Then he fell 40 feet.

His left hand was shattered and his neck was broken, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

He faces months of intensive treatment at Scotland's national spinal care unit at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. He is undergoing physio- therapy to restore feeling to his arms.

Since 1995, Donald had been a highly-regarded oncology consultant at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Some of his hundreds of patients had been permanently disabled by cancer and needed amputations to halt the spread of the disease.

Outside his busy surgery, he led an active life - including cycling, running and swimming. He had been a keen hillwalker since childhood.

He and Carol, 51 - an ex-nurse he married while working in Nottingham - have three children, Christopher, 14, Ian, 23, and Helen, 26. They live in Torphins, 17 miles from Aberdeen

Propped up on a hospital bed, his neck in a brace, Donald spoke frankly of the painful rehabilitation ahead.

He said: "Because the neck injury is very high it means, for the moment, I have no sensation or strength below the elbows. For sure, I am going to be wheelchair-bound. I am not going to walk again.

"How independent I am depends on what happens with my arms. There is a possibility I may have permanent loss of function in both."

Donald's work involved breaking the shattering news to patients that they must lose a limb to fight cancer.

But the oncologist said nothing in his career could prepare him for his own tragedy. He said: "It's only now you appreciate how slow the days are and how difficult it is to fill the time and try to keep your spirits up.

"It has only been over the last week, when I have been more stable, that we have all had a chance to take stock of things and the huge change in how life is going to be.

"Most of what is happening here is completely new to me. I have to admit that I didn't know there was a national centre for spinal injuries in Scotland.

"The staff here are fantastic and are not just supportive of the patient, but also their family as well."

Donald's accident happened on June 9, as he and hillwalking friends Andy Rockall, Sue Agnew and Sandy Russell tackled Red Craigs.

He said: "I was leading on a climb and came off, some protection gear came out and I fell 40ft. I landed on the back of my head, smashing my helmet.

"Luckily, it did the job of protecting my head but I broke my neck and smashed up my left arm."

Andy, a member of Golspie mountain rescue team, and psychiatric nurse Sandy stayed with Donald while Sue rushed to call an ambulance.

The paramedics radioed for a helicopter, which flew Donald to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

He said: "I was conscious through most of it. Because I broke my neck, I wasn't aware of any great pain and I think the distress was greater for those I was with."

Donald has been inundated with messages from patients, colleagues, friends and family.

He said: "I'd like to thank them all. If it wasn't for the actions of Sandy, Andy and Sue, I wouldn't be here today."

He also spoke of his determination to return to his profession.

Before the accident, Donald was helping with plans to refurbish Clinic D in Aberdeen.

He said: "That has been a burning passion since my arrival and it will happen.

"Obviously, it is not going to be easy going back to work in any way or form, but that is my goal just now."