A SPRING IN MY STEP


When I was at the Paralympics I marvelled at Marlon Shirley's prosthesis -- the state of the art, carbon fibre Cheetah.

Now, following today's visit to the hospital, I'm going to have one of my own.

In order for me to get a feeling for what it was like, prosthetic technician and amputee distance runner Andrew Palmer took his personal Cheetah and attached it to a bespoke socket he'd made up using my measurements.

This afternoon he let me try it out.

It was unbelievable.

It wasn't as good as running with a real foot -- I'd almost go so far as to say it was better!

For the first time in more than a year I was able to sprint.

In fact, the foot was so responsive and returned so much energy that the main problem I encountered was trying to stop. I bounded effortlessly along the corridors of the hospital, the foot propelling me forward like nothing I'd ever felt before.

I, quite literally, had a spring in my step -- and the sight of a slightly out of shape amputee hurtling around the hospital screaming "It's brilliant! It's brilliant!" soon drew a crowd of prosthetists wanting to know what all the fuss was about.

As you might expect, technology like the Cheetah doesn't come cheap -- and my prosthetist, Ian, wasn't about to supply me with one only for it to gather dust in a cupboard.

We talked through how I might use one and agreed to aim for a goal, such as a 10K race, to ensure the leg gets used to its full potential.

The little beauty's now on order -- so expect to see me pounding the streets of west London some time soon.