A man had his hand amputated after it was crushed when his dune buggy flipped but says he can still "do anything he wants"."

Justin Braden, 23, was driving six friends around his rural family property in a dune buggy when the vehicle flipped.

It slid down a hill - crushing his dominant left hand in the process.

He was rushed to Northwestern Hospital, McHenry , Illinois, US, in an ambulance where doctors told him he would have to have his hand amputated.

Waking up after the four-hour operation with a "giant looking club" where his hand used to be, Justin had to adjust to life without his dominant hand."

He was forced to give up his job as a landscape gardener and couldn’t do many of the activities he’d previously taken for granted - including writing, going bowling and even brushing his teeth.

But rather than feeling "sorry" for himself, Justin decided to "make the best of the situation"."

The day of the operation, he began posting about his recovery journey on social media.

The response to Justin’s posts was "overwhelmingly positive" and helped to give him the confidence he needed to push on with his recovery."

Just over 100 days after his accident, he can write, brush his teeth and even bowl a strike - all with his wrong hand.

Justin, a salesman, from McHenry, Illinois, US, said: "I knew I could either feel sorry for myself and cry every day, or I could make the best of the situation. "

"Showing people everything I can do without a hand helped me to realise that losing my hand wasn’t the end of the world - it’s just the start of a new chapter." "

Justin had his hand amputated after it was crushed in a car accident on his family property.

He was driving six friends down hill in a dune buggy when he went to make a turn and the vehicle rolled over.

"I reached out to steady us as the vehicle tipped over, and we slid about 15 feet downhill with my left hand caught under the roll cage," he said. "

"I remember my hand feeling very warm, and when I looked down I saw my pinkie and ring finger had been chopped off. "

"My fingers looked like gummy worms. "

"There was a lot of blood, but I couldn’t feel any pain. "

"I remember saying to my friends: 'My life just changed forever - you have to call an ambulance right now.’"

When Justin arrived at hospital, he asked a medic about the probability of losing his fingers.

"The doctor looked me dead in the eye and told me I was going to wake up without a hand," he said. "

"I had to take my non-dominant right hand and sign a form to say I was happy for them to go ahead with the operation."

"That’s when the emotions really set in."

"There were lots of tears and I kept telling my mum, Melissa Kettner, 42 , and stepdad, Kyle Kettner, 42 - who were in the room with me - how sorry I was."

"When I went into the operating theatre, I was just counting down the seconds for them to knock me out, knowing that when I woke up, I wouldn’t have a hand."

When Justin came out of surgery he had a "giant club for a hand". "

Justin took to TikTok to update his friends on the accident, and he was overwhelmed by the response.

"The first TikTok I posted was me trying to put toothpaste on my toothbrush, and I captioned it, ‘the beginning of a new journey’," he said."

"I went from having 10k views to 2.5 million views in three hours."

"The comments were overwhelmingly positive and gave me the strength to talk about what I was going through."

Justin was immediately confronted with the fact that he would no longer be able to do many of the things he had previously taken for granted.

"I used to run a landscape gardening business, which is very hands-on, but I had to change jobs due to my injury," he said. "

"I’m now a salesman, which is a lot less labour-intensive."

"I was insecure going back to the gym because I worried people would stare at me. "

"But when my TikTok blew up, it made me think, ‘what do I care what 30 people in the gym think?’"

Faced with new obstacles, Justin has repeatedly defied expectations.

"I’ve learned to write with my wrong hand pretty decently," he said. "

"My second time bowling with my wrong hand, I bowled three strikes in a row." "

Justin has also invested in a number of adaptive tools to make life that bit easier.

"Whether it’s using a chopping board that’s on suction cups so it can't slide around or buying clothes with magnetic buttons, it’s just about finding a solution to the problem," he said. "

"Things take longer, but from creativity, learning over time or using adaptive tools, there is always a way around it."

"Being an amputee doesn’t define me. I can still do anything I want, I just have to find new ways."