A hero’s dream for little Jacob
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy from Calderdale can finally give his little brother a hug after being the first child in the UK to have a functioning prosthetic arm fixed ABOVE the elbow.
Awesome Jacob Scrimshaw is now sporting a powered green Hulk robotic arm which means he can snuggle up with his sibling, Sebastian, three.
The brave youngster was born prematurely and a scan at 20 weeks had revealed part of his left arm was missing.
Mum-of-three Gemma Turner vowed to get him a prosthetic arm after he recently came home from school crying, saying he was fed up having to struggle with just one.
Amazingly, he got his new green superhero arm and has been wearing it ever since.
“Jacob loves his arm,” said
Gemma. “He is still getting used to it but it is great, we are thinking it will be fab at Christmas when he’ll be able to open his presents with two hands.”
The devoted mum said it “melted her heart” to see Jacob holding hands with his brother and his dad at the same time, which he has never been able to do before.
“We always wanted more as Jacob didn’t want a nonfunctioning arm just to look like everybody else, he’s not bothered about that. He wanted an arm that he could use and do things with.”
The journey wasn’t so easy for Jacob, as prosthetics for children are normally created below the elbow.
It’s harder to get the false limb to stay attached to the upper arm and an elbow joint has to be created.
Doubled with the fact robotic prosthetics are generally not available for kids on the NHS, mum and dad, Gemma and Chris Scrimshaw, both 36, knew they would have a fight on their hands to answer his dreams.
The family had raised £16,000 by September and thanks to
Ben Ryan from Anglesey, Wales.
Mr Ryan is CEO of his own company Ambionics, and Director of Glaze Prosthetics UK. He made his mark on the prosthetic world after going from psychology teacher to engineer. He created an arm for his own child following an accident at birth which meant his son lost his arm at ten days old.
Jacob, of Lightcliffe near Halifax, is one of their first patients.