Miracle surgery restores livelihood Staff Reporter Share · + What's a hand without the thumb? You can't hold a spoon ora pen, much less an implement. That was the frightening scenariocarpenter Shyam Sundar was facing after his right hand thumb was amputated after it got crushed while cutting wood at hiswork place in Dubai six months ago. Minus the thumb, he would not be able to work as a carpenter surely. But surgeons at Yashoda Hospital gave him a freshlease of life, after they harvested atoe from his left leg and attached it in place of the lost thumb.