THE HAND OF GOD
Hero vicar gets high-tech bionic arm
WHEN vicar Dan Cant saved a man’s life on a boat holiday despite only having one arm, his son Aaron said admiringly: ‘Imagine what you could do with two arms.’
Now the youngster’s dreams have come true after he searched online for ‘hero arm for dad’ and found a company that makes bionic arms.
Mr Cant, 42, is the first vicar to receive one of the prosthetic arms – which he put to good use by giving his seven-year-old son his first ever ‘proper hug’.
‘I was able to hold him in two arms and pull him in tight for the first time ever. He was so emotional,’ he said.
Trainee cleric Mr Cant lost his right forearm in a horrific car crash in 2005 when he survived a head-on collision with a motorcyclist that killed his fiancee and the biker. He now lives in Colchester, Essex, with his wife Leanne, a 42-year-old teacher, whom he married in 2017, Aaron, and two teenage step-children.
Last year Mr Cant helped pull an injured man from a canal and haul him on to a passing boat.
Aaron dubbed his father ‘a reallife hero’ and later searched online for bionic arms – and was jubilant when he found the firm Open Bionics.
The firm uses 3D technology to design custom-made prosthetics which give the wearer specialised hand control. They work by detecting contractions in muscles which are amplified and converted to movements.
Since getting the arm Mr Cant says he’s been dubbed the ‘Bionic Rev’. Charitable body The Worshipful Company of Glovers of London helped fund the £10,000 cost of the limb.