A Formula One fan has had his wish of a new bionic hand fulfilled after a plucky letter to boss of the Mercedes GP Petronas team, Ross Brawn.
Matthew James, a 14-year-old from Wokingham in Berkshire, was born without a left hand.
He was fitted with a bionic version which he described as “like a claw”.
His dream was for a more sophisticated device, but they cost tens of thousands of pounds and are not available on the NHS.
Matthew had his eye on an i-Limb Pulse from Touch Bionics, a firm in Scotland. His family had raised some money, but nowhere near the £30,000 needed.
Matthew James explains how the new bionic hand works.
He decided to ask Ross Brawn for help after the F1 boss visited Reading School.
In a letter, Matthew offered to have his hand sponsored by Mercedes in exchange for help.
Matthew was invited for a tour round the Mercedes factory, while a member of the F1 team got in touch with Touch Bionics.
The two organisations agreed to share technology which is used in both the cars and the bionic arm. As part of the deal, the £25,000 fee to fit the hand and train Matthew to use it was waived. Mercedes is helping to fund-raise the rest.
Matthew said his old hand was “a simple open and close mechanism, like a claw” while the new one “has five individual motors in each finger and therefore each finger can move individually”.
Source: bbc