The six-year-old boy whose left arm was reattached just over a week ago in Monterrey, Nuevo León, had to undergo surgery again late last week to remove the limb after his body rejected it.

He remains in intensive care.

The boy lost his arm on July 29 after putting it inside an operating washing machine.

Fast action by his mother, a nurse, to contain the bleeding along with quick response by Red Cross paramedics have been credited with saving the boy’s life.

After a 10-hour procedure, doctors at the Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopedics No. 21 successfully reattached the amputated limb, which had been placed in ice immediately after the accident.

Five days after the reattachment surgery, the youngster contracted a fever and his arm began to turn purple. Physicians decided to amputate the limb in order to avoid further health complications.

A source close to the case told the newspaper El Universal that the boy’s arm was severely injured after getting caught in the washing machine, and that getting the arteries and tendons to bond was a complicated task.

Source: El Universal (sp)