Amputee limb doctor hit by lorry is back at work thanks to bionic arm
He designs ‘revolutionary’ unit
AN ARTIFICIAL limb expert who lost his arm in a horrific cycling accident is at work again after helping to create his own revolutionary bionic arm.
Prosthetist Dr Jim AshworthBeaumont had emergency surgery while trapped under a 40-ton truck that “side-swiped” him in July 2020.
He almost died and spent six weeks in an induced coma. After recovering, the 55-year-old vowed to return to his job working on artificial limbs for the NHS at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London.
He was helped by experts from three top prosthetics makers who worked to assist “one of their own”.
Jim, from Edinburgh, now has a bespoke electronic arm to which he can attach different “hands”, depending on what he is doing.
The devices use electric signals from Jim’s remaining tricep and bicep muscles to control his hand and wrist.
His Ossur i-Limb Quantum prosthetic hand allows him to hold cutlery, peel an orange or shake
hands. In the workshop Jim’s Ottobock Greifer “gripper” lets him use tools and handle heavier objects.
His Espire Pro elbow, produced by Steepers, is the high-tech “brain” .
The bionic arm was designed by Jim’s university pal Alan McDougall, the clinic manager at Surrey-based ProActive Prosthetics. He contacted
colleagues at Ottobock,
Ossur and Steeper, who supplied the three devices for free.
Alan came up with the bespoke design to match Jim’s requirements.
Jim, of Greenwich, south-east London, said: “I have been completely
blown away by the cooperation and generosity of these three amazing companies as well as Alan and the team at ProActive.
“The separate component parts already exist but the way they have been configured is unique to me. “The arm really is clever and works with me to carry out the tasks I need to complete every day.”
He said the unit is light enough to pop in his rucksack on his commute and means he can “carry on working”. During his rehabilitation he was contacted by Alan. Originally from East Kilbride, south Lanarkshire, Alan said: “We got Jim in for an assessment but what he needed was going to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“He didn’t have that cash so having contacts in the prosthetic world I thought, ‘Can I put all the different parts together and see what we can come up with?’”