Artist who lost fingers starts to draw again

Artist Alexandra Trotsenko, whose fingers were hacked off in an attack, has started painting and drawing again with her prosthetic fingers.

When the public heard of her plight last November they donated more than €80,000 to a collection and a special art auction organised by the RTÉ programme Liveline presenter Joe Duffy.

Alexandra, 39, could not hold a pen after being attacked and robbed in her apartment in Finglas, Dublin, almost three years ago.

James Kenny from Prospect Hill, Finglas, who cut off a number of fingers from Alexandra’s right hand in September 2009, was jailed for 16 years. He also stabbed her in the face, neck, chest and abdomen.

The Russian artist, who is married to Irishman James Kelly, was once a very detailed drawer. She had put off her prosthetic option because she could not afford it.

She contacted Liveline again this week because she was so excited about the success of the prosthesis and wanted to thank all those who made it possible.

Medical experts had been working on her prostheses since January so Alexandra can hold a brush or pencil.

She told Duffy yesterday she was delighted with the prosthetic fingers because they looked lifelike and made her hand look more complete.

“Since the beginning of the year I have started slowly to come back to drawing and painting,” she said.

However, she is concentrating more on painting rather than drawing as she is still not able to put enough pressure on the paper with a pencil.

Before getting the prostheses, Alexandra had tried to paint with her damaged hand but found the pressure on her middle finger was too much.

After the attack Alexandra was left with just a thumb and middle finger. With the prostheses, she now has three fingers. She says she now has three “attachments” for her hand, with one specifically made for holding a brush or pencil.

“It does not look like a finger at all — it is kind of square with a cut inside so I can place any instrument I need in it,” she explained. While she retained her middle finger it no longer functions as it should. “I can’t bend the middle finger at all,” she said.

She has been told by her consultant that nothing can be done to improve the middle finger. Duffy said the work to improve Alexandra’s hand was conducted at Cappagh Hospital in Dublin and at medical clinics in Britain and Germany.

The attachments for her hand were manufactured in Otto Bock, a German prosthetics company founded in 1919 in response to the large number of injured veterans from World War 1.

Alexandra’s attacker sent her a letter of apology immediately after the court case but Alexandra described it as “just words” — she did not believe it was genuine.