BIONIC MUM
Niamh raised €65k for prosthetic hand after losing fingers to sepsis... now she can play guitar again
A MOTHER of four who lost the fingers on her left hand to the life-threatening infection sepsis is able to play the guitar again thanks to a bionic hand.
Niamh Boyle said the prosthetic i-limb makes her feel ‘like I’ve gotten a piece of myself back and that is something you cannot put a price on’.
The 32-year-old, from Haggardstown, Co. Louth, has been trained in how to use the hand which was custommade for her following a series of tests and moulds at a specialist prosthetic company in Co. Galway.
‘I can’t even describe what it feels like to have the use of my left hand again. I’ve only had it since Tuesday and it’s already transformed my life,’ she said.
Niamh and husband Liam are parents to baby Ardan (eight months), his brothers Euan, two, Rian, five, and Ohran, six, so they organised fundraising to cover the €65,000 cost of the ‘i-limb digits’ hand, which can be controlled using an app.
‘They are custom-made by Touch Bionics in Scotland and I visited Apos in Galway who took the mould for it and I met with the trainers,’ added Niamh.
After collecting her new hand this week, she said: ‘It’s literally taking half the time to do tasks now.
‘Changing bed clothes, peeling vegetables, dressing the kids, tidying up toys, etc, is just so much easier. I’m playing the guitar again. I feel like I’ve gotten a piece of myself back and that’s something you can’t put a price on.
‘I’m only a couple of days into it, but it’s definitely becoming more natural. I would say in a couple of weeks I’ll be able to control it without having to consciously think about what I’m doing.
‘From a physical point of view this hand will cut in half the time it takes me to do tasks, and allow me to do two-handed things again such as using a knife and fork, pushing a pram or a trolley, riding a bike and playing my guitar.’
It is also helping the young mother recover from the trauma of nearly dying from sepsis, which she developed after her youngest baby was born. When she woke from a medically-induced coma she was told she would have to have all the fingers on her left hand amputated; she also lost toes on her right foot.
‘From a psychological point of view, I feel like I’m as good as everybody else now. I’m not somebody to be pitied any more but rather someone to be admired,’ Niamh said.
She is also very grateful to everybody who has supported her and who contributed to the cost of the i-limb. ‘I’d like to thank everyone who donated to this campaign. Their generosity and support has given me a second chance at life and I’ll always remember that. It means the world to myself and my family,’ she added.
Niamh wants to remind people of the danger of sepsis, which claims thousands of lives every year across Europe, and encourages others to know the signs and symptoms of the condition.
‘Now I know that a severe pain in your elbow or knee can be a sign of it. The most common signs are shivering from a fever or cold, extreme pain or discomfort, pale or discoloured skin, sleepiness or being difficult to rouse, feeling like you might die and shortness of breath,’ she said.
‘My message to people is to “always think sepsis”. If you have the symptoms and are concerned, go to a GP or A&E and say you are concerned over sepsis. It could save your life, or someone else’s.’
Both Niamh and Liam are grateful to their parents Jimmy and Maureen Marron and Kathleen and Cathal Boyle, as well as son Euan’s godparents Tony and Karen Cluskey ‘for the incredible support they gave us and for looking after our four children while I was in hospital and when Liam was with me’.
‘I’m not somebody to be pitied any more’