Today, I managed to breathe life into a state-of-the-art prosthesis worth £12,000 using nothing more than a paperclip and a roll of electrical tape.My Proprio, as I've written many times before, is a fine piece of kit.
But like an iPod, a laptop or a mobile phone it relies on battery power and no power = useless.
In the course of regular use, one of the pins connecting the Lithium Ion battery to the foot unit snapped off -- and the foot immediately seized up.
Not a good advertisement when you've got BBC Wales coming to London next Tuesday to film a report about the leg.
So, using my best Heath Robinson ingenuity, I fashioned a new pin out an inch-long length of paperclip wire and lashed the rig back together with tape.
Amazingly, it worked.
The Proprio is functioning perfectly again -- for the moment at least.
I take great comfort in the knowledge that should I ever find myself in a war zone or up a mountain with a conked out bionic prosthesis, I might just be able to fix it.
posted by Stuart at 20:52
6 Comments:
It should have a fail-safe mode though where it is nominally usable, so you are not stranded. For instance, it should at least be able to fix its position so that it would at least allow you to be mobile without dragging or locking in an undesirable position.
Now that you've worn it for a few weeks, how do you feel about the performance of the foot? I might just have to check into getting one in the coming year.
E-mail me, Neal, and I'll give you my feedback.
Sounds like you may be the Welsh version of McGyver. Shouldn't the Proprio come with spare parts and a tool kit?
Did you see the January, US edition of Esquire Magazine? Big feature about a young solidier who returned from Iraq minus 2 legs and one arm.
Worth a look.
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