Andrew Kent underwent three operations to pin the bones in his leg back together
Andrew Kent's right leg broke in five places when a large boulder fell on him as he climbed with his son in the Langdale Pikes in the Lake District in April.
He was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle where he underwent three operations to pin the bones back together.
When the wound became seriously infected he was transferred to the private Spire Alexandra Hospital in Chatham, Kent.
There, orthopaedic surgeon Anan Shetty performed the revolutionary new treatment for the first time in Britain by removing stem cells from the bone marrow in Mr Kent's hip and mixing them with a new collagen gel called Cartifill.
The paste it formed was then smeared into the fractures before his leg was placed in a metal cage to gently squeeze the bones back together.
The cage was removed at the beginning of this month - six months after the stem cell procedure - and surgeons believe he will be able to climb again in the future.
Surgeons removed stem cells from the bone marrow in Andrew's hip and mixed them with a new collagen gel called Cartifill
Andrew's leg before stem cell treatment
Describing how he felt when he was told his leg risked amputation, he said: 'Receiving that news is pretty devastating.
'You think: "I don't want to lose this foot. That would be horrendous".
'Now I'm very pleased. I can wiggle my toes and they are looking good.'
Mr Shetty told the channel: 'He has really surprised us. This is an amazing technique. He won't be able to run for about a year, but after 18 months his bones will have healed completely.
'I'm sure he'll be able to go back and rock climb again.'
The Cartifill collagen gel was invented by orthopaedic surgeon Professor Seok Jung Kim, from South Korea. He was present to see the operation take place.
The technique costs far less than alternative methods, at only a few hundred pounds.
Mr Shetty will carry out the cartilage repair technique on around 30 patients before submitting his results to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the hope that it will be approved for use on the NHS.
HOW IT WORKS...
A paste - formed by mixing a new collagen gel and cells taken from bone marrow - is smeared into the fractures before the leg is placed in a metal cage to gently squeeze the bones back together
