Soldier injured in Afghanistan becomes first Briton to be given bionic arm he can control with his BRAIN

Corporal Andrew Garthwaite lost his arm serving in Helmand          Province

He was initially given a traditional prosthetic right arm

He has now been fitted with a newly invented bionic arm

Had to have seven hours of surgery to rewire his nervous system

Can control arm thanks to electrodes that pick up impulses from his brain

Making a cup of tea or potting a plant in the garden may sound like simple, day-to-day tasks.
But until recently, Corporal Andrew Garthwaite could barely imagine being able to complete them with ease.
Now the soldier, who lost his right arm to a Taliban rocket-propelled grenade, is  able to live a normal life – after becoming Britain’s first person to be fitted with a bionic limb controlled by the mind.

Corporal Andrew Garthwaite, 26, is believed to be the first person in Britain to be given a bionic hand that he can control with his brain

Incredibly, the 26-year-old has only to think of moving a hand, arm or fingers and the false arm responds accordingly. The robotic prosthetic – described as ‘the stuff of science fiction’ – means the married serviceman can pull on his own socks, cook, drive and use bank cards.
He said yesterday: ‘The surgery has made a massive improvement to my life. I have become a lot more independent and all the normal things I was struggling with have become so much easier.

 

‘When I first got told about the operation I thought it was some sort of fairy tale. But here I am today with this arm that is fitted and works off my mind.’ The soldier, of South Shields, South Tyneside, took a direct hit from a rocket in the insurgent stronghold of Nad-e Ali, Afghanistan, in 2010. A close friend was killed in the  attack.
Cpl Garthwaite said: ‘I heard a bang and within a split-second I was on the floor and my arm was on fire. I stood up and thought, “Oh, God” and my arm just fell off.’
He initially received a traditional prosthetic, which allowed him to perform a limited range of tasks.
But in January last year, he was flown to the Medical University of Vienna in Austria.
There, doctors ‘rewired’ the severed nerve endings from his shoulder – which had controlled his hand – into his chest. Electrodes were delicately attached to his chest and connected to a tiny computer fitted on the prosthetic limb.

Soldier with bionic arm tells his story in charity film

   

Corporal Garthwaite lost his arm while serving in Afghanistan in 2010. He is pictured wearing muscle sensors before the robotic arm was fitted

Corporal Garthwaite had to have seven hours of surgery to rewire his nervous system before the new arm could be fitted. Graphic shows how the muscle sensors control the robotic arm

Corporal Garthwaite was injured when a grenade exploded in Helmand Province

Now when he imagines moving his missing arm, electronic brain pulses travel through the nerve endings and the electrodes, sending messages to the micro-computer. The soldier, who serves in the Queen’s Royal Lancers, can now open and close his hand, extend his fingers and rotate his wrist.
Sensors in the prosthesis will soon let him feel different temperatures. In carefree moments, he can make his wrist spin 360 degrees. ‘That is my party trick,’ he joked.
The Defence Ministry is paying the £60,000 cost of his bionic arm and surgery.

Soldier who lost an arm controls bionic replacement with thought

   

Nerve endings from Corporal Garthwaite's shoulder, which would have run down to his hand, were instead rewired into his chest muscles

For 18 months Corporal Garthwaite has had the sensation of a hand growing in his chest

The soldier has had to learn how to control his hand with electrodes sending signals to his new arm so that he can control it with impulses from his brain

Steve Lambert, a lead prosthetic technician at the Headley Court military recovery centre  in Surrey, said working with Cpl Garthwaite had ‘put a lump in my throat’.
Defence minister Anna Soubry said: ‘It’s the stuff of almost science fiction coming to reality.’
Cpl Garthwaite is being medically discharged from the Army. But after spending Christmas with his wife and family, he plans to explore fresh career opportunities – bolstered by his bionic arm.
He said: ‘Having lost a lot of friends through my Army career in Iraq and Afghanistan, I know I’m very lucky to be here. It makes you realise it could have been you.’

Corporal Garthwaite said: 'When I first got told about the operation I thought it was some sort of fairy tale, that someone was taking the mickey. But here I am today with this arm that is fitted and works off my mind. It's unbelievable'

Corporal Garthwaite has demonstrated that he can carry out everyday tasks such as potting a plant and making a jam sandwich using his prosthetic arm

He said: 'There is no point in looking back because you can never turn back time. I am still very lucky to be here. With this new life I have got, hopefully I can be very successful'