After accidentally severing his thumb while sawing through a piece of wood last December, James Byrne, 29, had surgeons attach his big toe in its place, The Guardian reported.
At first, Byrne wanted his thumb to be reattached, but after several attempts it proved unsuccessful.
Byrne told the publication that he didn't let the failure phase him. So, surgeon Umraz Khan at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, England proposed another option.
"Mr Khan re-attached my thumb but it had been badly damaged and although we tried everything, including leeches, to get the blood flowing again it didn't take. Mr Khan said to me, 'You will have a thumb even if I have to take your toe.' I thought he was joking, but he was serious and nine months later here it is."
Byrne, who works as a paver and plant operator, couldn't accomplish day-to-day tasks without the use of his hand.
The BBC reported that, although the surgery was unexpected, Byrne isn't bothered by how it looks.
"The aesthetics of it don't bother me. I am just happy that it works. My work as a paver would have been destroyed without the use of my hand because I couldn't pick up a brick without a thumb but now I hope I can be back at work in a few months."
Bryne will now have to undergo physiotherapy to help him adapt to the new hand function as well as re-balancing without his big toe.