Kim Briscoe A trumpeter has vowed to teach himself to play left-handed after an accident in which his index finger was horrifically severed.

Kim Briscoe

A trumpeter has vowed to teach himself to play left-handed after an accident in which his index finger was horrifically severed.

Sam Bramley is determined to continue playing with up-and-coming Norwich band Killamonjambo despite having more than 40 stitches and a metal pin in his finger, so he has been learning to play left-handed.

The grade-eight trumpeter works as a bicycle repairman and had been mending cycles at a Dr Bike session at the University of East Anglia three weeks ago.

The 22-year-old UEA music graduate said: “I had just finished a day at work and I was cleaning the chain on my own bike. I was cleaning the moving chain, which was stupid and I shouldn't have been, but it caught on the rag and pulled my finger into the fixed wheel cog.

“It was just a world of pain.”

A fellow cycle repairman sprang to his aid.

Mr Bramley, who is known to his friends as Bramley, added: “He held my finger on for me and held it in place and got the blood going back through it while we waited for the paramedics.

“I went into shock, a sort of survival mode but I was worried about losing it.”

Mr Bramley was rushed to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and underwent a two-hour operation the next morning to reattach his severed tendon and put in place a metal pin to hold the fractured joint in place.

Fortunately the nerves were not completely destroyed, and with physiotherapy Mr Bramley stands a good chance of recovering most of the movement in his digit.

He said: “I couldn't have been more impressed with everyone at the hospital. They were all really brilliant - the nurses and ward staff in particular.”

N&N consultant plastic surgeon Richard Haywood said: "I am delighted that Mr Bramley is pleased with the care he received. We are very lucky to have an excellent team here who look after our trauma patients.”

Mr Bramley grew up in Haddenham, near Ely in Cambridgeshire, and started playing the trumpet at the age of seven after being inspired by the brass band in his village.

He recently joined funk/soul band Killamonjambo and played in the Evening News-backed Next Big Thing final just days before the accident.

Since then Mr Bramley, who lives in Eade Road in Norwich, has been practising hard and is becoming accustomed to playing left-handed and has even managed to record a song with the band.

He said:” I will never be able to stop playing music, especially when playing is such fun like it is with Killamonjambo.”

Joe Man, lead singer of the seven-piece group, said: “We all have faith in Bramley in being able to play just as well with his left hand.

“He has the right attitude and a phenomenal, tenacious spirit.”

Killamonjambo, including Bramley, will be playing at the Norwich Arts Centre on December 13 and at the The Queen Charlotte in Dereham Road on December 18.

To watch of video of Bramley playing his trumpet left-handed, log on to www.eveningnews24.co.uk

Do you have a quirky story for the Evening News? Contact reporter Kim Briscoe on 01603 772419 or email kim.briscoe@archant.co.uk