THE SUPERKIDS WITH THE £10,000 BIONIC ARMS

They’re pioneers who humble us all: four youngsters with sci-fi robotic arms to replace missing limbs. And, as their inspirational stories reveal, there’s not an ounce of self-pity between them

WHAT do you see when you look at this picture? Four children with disabilities — or sassy superheroes ready to take on the universe and anything else life throws at them?

Despite all being upper-limb amputees, these youngsters could easily pass for comic book crusaders as they show off their futuristic, bionic ‘Hero Arms’.

The first medically certified, 3D-printed, bionic arm in the world, the Hero Arm allows for precise movements that other prostheses do not.

For decades, prosthetic hands have offered little functionality, while other new bionic arms on the market retail for upwards of £50,000, pricing out most would-be owners.

But Open Bionics, a Bristol company that engineers and makes the Hero Arm, is on a mission to change that, with its prosthetic limbs costing around £10,000.

Founded in 2014 by Samantha Payne, a former technology journalist, and robotics engineer Joel Gibbard, the company is working closely with the NHS to have the arm made freely available.

‘We know £10,000 is a huge amount of money, which is why we’ve spent five years working to make it affordable to the NHS,’ says Samantha.

‘We’re the only company to have engaged with the NHS on a clinical trial for prosthetics. One day we also intend to develop bionic lower limbs, which are more complex to engineer because of the movement and weight-bearing required.’

At 720g, the Hero Arm weighs less than a bag of sugar, and all its technology, including the motor and electronics board, is contained within the palm. The user slips their arm into the ‘socket’ (or forearm), which has two sensors inside, then controls the hand by tensing specific muscles.

Here, four warriors reveal the superpowers they’ve acquired since getting their bionic arms . . . TILLY LOCKEY, 13, has two bionic arms and lives in Consett, County Durham, with her mother Sarah Lockey (pictured below with Tilly), 40, who works for the charity Meningitis Now, her father Adam, 39, a teacher, and sisters Tia, 15, LucyAnna, 11, and Hermione, seven. Tilly says: AFTER contracting meningitis at 15 months old, I had both hands amputated. But with my Hero Arms on I feel confident and powerful — a bit like a bionic

girl! Though I learned to do most things, including writing and riding a bike, without prosthetic limbs, the biggest difference now is I can multi-task.

recently, I was at a train station and was able to pull my wheelie case along with one hand while holding a hot chocolate in the other. I can also play the Just Dance game on my Wii console at home and hold the remote control instead of having to tape it to my arm.

When I was younger, I tried different prosthetic limbs, but they only opened and closed a bit and didn’t grip well. They were designed to resemble real hands, but to me they looked weird and creepy. So I decided I’d rather stand out. I didn’t want to hide the fact that I have no hands.

Mum heard about Open Bionics in 2016 when it was looking for amputees to take part in trials for its first prototype, and I’ve been working with the team ever since.

In 2017 I was on the news talking about the trials, and a philanthropist businessman called the TV station to say he’d love to buy me a hand. We’ve been in touch since but he prefers to be anonymous. Then, as a thank you for all my hard work, Open Bionics gave me the other one. I’m now on my second pair having outgrown the first. Open Bionics surprised me with them earlier this year — these have six interchangeable covers in lovely colours, including teal and rose gold, so I can match my hands with my outfits.

My friends think they’re really cool and strangers ask to shake my hand and have a picture taken.

I’m still working with Open Bionics. Hopefully it will develop an automatic wrist to enable me to put my hair up in a bobble, tie laces and do up little buttons. MUM SARAH SAYS: We were so grateful for Tilly’s life when she survived meningitis, and promised her she’d have hands again. I remember her sitting in her cot, scrutinising her black, dead hands. Then, instinctively, she picked up teddies and her milk bottle using her arms.

As she got older, Tilly was able to play, go to school and ride a bike. Now, with her Hero Arms, I love watching how much she uses them to gesticulate during conversations. They’ve given her so much confidence to express herself and to pose for the endless photos she and her friends love taking. RYAN GREGSON, 13, lives in Glasgow with mum Debbie (pictured inset right with Ryan), 42, and dad Stephen, 44, both in local government, and brother Callum, seven. Ryan was born with one hand. He says: THE best thing about my bionic hand is being able to give my brother a little handshake. He thinks I look like Iron Man and I like that the arm doesn’t look human. My mates think it’s really cool and are impressed by the different features, including a button at the top of the hand which enables me to do things like sticking my thumb or three fingers up, and making an ‘o’ shape for OK.

At school I can play the drums and xylophone with two sticks and get more of a beat going. Playing on my Xbox is great too, though sometimes my bionic fingers move when I am trying to hold the controller still. MUM DEBBIE SAYS: It was a magical

moment when Ryan got his Hero Arm last Christmas and fistbumped his little brother, Callum. Ryan loves that he can now use his game console with both hands — important for a teenage boy.

A detailed 20-week pregnancy scan revealed Ryan would be born with only his left hand; my husband was also born with one hand missing but the medics have never understood why. But it’s never held Ryan back, and long before he had his bionic arm he’d been on a zipwire, had abseiled down a building and attended football camps in Italy and Poland. He tried a prosthetic hand when he was younger, but it was of so little functional use that he just lobbed it across the room. The Hero Arm was gifted to him through a funding scheme organised by Open Bionics, which we read about on social media while on holiday in Portugal last summer. We couldn’t have raised £10,000, so we were very fortunate Ryan’s arm was funded by a philanthropist.

Last September we went to a local private limb clinic — HCI Viocare — to have a cast of his arm made so that Open Bionics could then make a bespoke prosthetic.

Ryan was always independent, but the arm enables him to perform simple tasks such as picking up his school bag, and cutting up his own food because he can now hold a knife and fork at the same time. In a few years Ryan will want to start driving, so the Hero Arm, which we’ve been told should last into adulthood, will be perfect. EVIE LAMBERT, 11, lives in West Yorkshire with her mum Sally (pictured above right with Evie), 48, who works in banking, dad, Duncan, 50, a property developer and brother Henry, eight. Evie was born without a left hand. She says: My Hero Arm has helped me in lots of ways, such as brushing my hair and being able to open a packet of crisps by myself. My friends all want one now!

It’s a light blue, bespoke Disney Frozen design. When I first wore it in the street I got a few stares, but I quite like the attention. Mum’s

just agreed to let me start a private Instagram page and my handle is going to be evie Bionic Girl because I’m so proud of my arm.

MUM SALLY SAYS: Although evie learned to do most of the things other children can do, now she’s got her bionic arm she can also do her own hair and butter a slice of bread — little things we take for granted with two hands.

We found out at my 20-week pregnancy scan that she’d be born without one hand. I encountered some thoughtless reactions, including from my GP, who said: ‘It’s a shame it’s going to be a girl because she won’t be able to wear a wedding ring.’

Duncan and I questioned everything. Would evie ever swim, ride a bike or comb her own hair? How would other people treat her?

When evie arrived, she was simply our gorgeous daughter, and the consultant empowered me by saying: ‘She’ll grow up to do amazing things, this won’t hold her back.’ We tried a few NHS prosthetic hands, but there was nothing suitable for evie.

Then, last year I read about Hero Arms. But they are hellishly expensive and we were weighing up whether evie would use one enough to justify the cost when we discovered we could apply to Open Bionics for funding. To our amazement, we were accepted and an anonymous donor gifted evie her arm in late 2018. Because she’d got used to doing everything with one hand, from dressing to riding a bike, we sometimes have to remind evie to put her arm on and learn to use it for different things.

Although she managed for years without a prosthetic, I want evie to be able to iron her clothes as an adult, cook meals and drive a car, which the Hero Arm will enable her to do. CAMERON MILLAR, 12, lives in Edinburgh with mum Mags, 40, a paediatric nurse, and dad Alfie, 50, a coach driver and twin sister Leigha. Cameron was born without one hand. He says: WHEN I got my arm, I celebrated by eating a burger with two hands, and couldn’t wait to fist pump my friends! I can also do up the zip on my coat.

I wore it to school to show everyone and all my friends ran over to give me high fives. I don’t wear it to school that much because I can write without it, but when I start high school in September, we’ll do science and woodwork classes, so I’ll need to have two hands.

At home I wear it for playing the drums and riding my bike. Tying laces is still tricky, though. I don’t mind the attention any more. People normally ask how the arm works and where I got it from, and young kids usually think it’s a toy.

MUM MAGS SAYS: Cameron was the first child in Scotland to have a Hero Arm, paid for by the incredibly kind listeners who heard our plea for crowdfunding on a local radio station.

We launched our appeal before Christmas 2017, not expecting to raise much money. We were so grateful when we got donations of £13,000 in just nine days — we’d never have been able to save that sort of money on our salaries.

I’d heard about the Hero Arm in 2015 at a conference organised by Reach, which helps families of children with upper-limb differences but didn’t mention it to Cameron as we couldn’t afford one.

But then he saw the prototype the following year when he came with me to the same conference and really wanted one.

The arm has been life changing. I now have a confident little boy who no longer fears going to parties or out in public. It’s a total transformation — he once refused to go to a birthday celebration, convinced people would stare.

Thankfully, his missing hand hasn’t held him back. He had swimming lessons as a youngster and started judo club at seven.

As Cameron grows, he will have the internal part of the Hero Arm recast every two years or so, but the hand itself will probably be good for another four years, which, thankfully, will help to keep the cost down.