A seven-year-old boy born without an arm has been able to hold a fishing rod with two hands for the first time.
Alex Sparkes spent birthdays ‘wishing his arm would grow’, but now he’s happily casting alongside his dad using a new ‘life-changing’ $16,000 prosthetic limb.
The Black Panther-themed arm was a gift from ‘Britain’s kindest plumber’ James Anderson, a 55-year-old who was touched by Alex’s tale.
His mother Dionne, now 33, said she’d had a normal pregnancy but Alex was born without a limb. It was heartbreaking, especially later, when the boy went to school and young kids were afraid of him because of his missing arm.
He’d been on the list of UK patients due to receive a prosthetic arm from the National Health Service before the pandemic, but three years later, he was still waiting in Lancashire, England.
After his parents attended an event by Open Bionics, which makes a robotic arm so advanced it allows wearers to pick up a pin with its fingers, they launched a crowdfunding bid to raise the £12,700 ($16,000) needed to purchase the arm, which they said would be life-changing for Alex.
When plumber James saw the online appeal he ‘fell in love’ with Alex and offered to pay for the arm.
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Since receiving his Black Panther-themed arm, Alex has been able to put toothpaste on his toothbrush for the first time and will learn how to tie his shoelaces.
And Alex is ecstatic to have finally fulfilled his lifelong dream of holding a rod for the first time during a fishing trip with his dad to nearby Cornfield Fisheries.
“With his new hero arm, he’s a lot more independent, I don’t have to be there by his side all the time with the fishing rod. He can handle the rod on his own and he’s able to catch his own fish.
“We’re realizing what he couldn’t do before, rather than what he can do now.”
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Alex said the new arm they picked up last week is ‘amazing’.
“I can now pick up stuff. I feel happy when I’m fishing with two hands and I can reel the rod.”
Dionne said Alex ‘had the biggest smile on his face’ when they picked up his new bionic arm on July 24.
“Now that he’s got the arm, every half an hour he’s asking me if I can believe he’s got his arm.
GNN posted a story in 2022 about the plumber James, who runs DEPHER, the social benefit organization that normally provides free services to the elderly and others struggling with rent and housing problems.
“It’s also given him the independence of pouring a drink himself and not needing any help—and he can fully get dressed by himself.
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“He could do it before, but now he’s got his arm he can do it normally.
“To me, that’s him feeling like he’s complete.”
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This is very nice.