Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00My name's Tilly, I'm originally from Newcastle, North East of England, but I've just recently moved to Bath.
00:05So when I was born I was completely happy, healthy baby, had all four limbs, and it was when I was 15 months old
00:11that I contracted a terrible disease called meningococcal septicaemia strain B,
00:17which is like the inflammation of the membranes around the base of the spine and the brain.
00:21That can often bring on septicaemia, which is a blood poisoning, and together they are just
00:26absolutely lethal, like fatal. I was ultimately given 0% chance of survival. I was told I was
00:31going to die, so it was honestly like a miracle that I was able to survive, but they did have to
00:36amputate my hands. It hasn't turned out too bad because now I get to wear these super cool Hero
00:41Pros, brand new. So yeah, it's been a journey ever since, but my life is pretty good now.
00:48Don't get me wrong, I love the Hero Arm. Me and the Hero Arm, we go way back. I'm probably
00:53sentimental about them and I'm always going to keep them. They're not getting trashed in the bin now,
00:57but these ones do feel just like really next level. These ones feel very much more like sci-fi
01:03come to life, which is what we've been hoping for ever since I can remember. So it is really
01:09cool, like the speed and the strength of them. Today is the first time I've been playing
01:13with them in the lab, but this is the first time I've been out and about using them
01:18in the day, so it's been really, really fun and I'm still learning a little bit. I'm getting
01:23the gist. I'm not used to being this strong, but it's fun and all the possibilities
01:29are racing around in my head of what I'll be able to do. They help so much physically
01:33and mentally. I think it's just a big thing to just look down and be able to have hands.
01:37I talk a lot with my hands, so to be able to gesture with them is really, really cool. I do a
01:41lot of speaking on stage and singing as well, so they literally allow me to hold that microphone
01:46and be able to express myself and do other things with my other hand, which obviously if I
01:50didn't have them I'd be quite restricted in that way, and that's what I kind of do for a
01:54living now, so they've changed the game massively there. I think the other thing for me is obviously
01:59I'm a double amputee. A lot of people are only missing the one hand, but when I'm a double amputee
02:04it's like when I'm wearing them I'm fully reliant on them. One thing that I've never
02:08been able to do, which is so simple, is just multitask. To be able to pull a suitcase and
02:13drink hot chocolate at the same time is something that everybody does and probably takes for
02:17granted, but for me it's never been that easy. With the Hero Pro it is. I do wear them every day.
02:22Sometimes I wear just the one, and it depends, right or left, whatever vibe I'm feeling that day.
02:27Sometimes I wear both of them. I'm very, very flexible with them, so I'll put them on every day.
02:32I'm not constantly wearing them all day. They're very much on and off throughout the day, but
02:37I wear them every day, and so I'm always on speed dials at Open Bionics with all my critiques
02:43and my praise to get the next ones even better. It's been about five years, I think,
02:49these ones in the making, and so it's just amazing to see some of those features come to life
02:54now, and other people all around are going to be able to benefit from it. I'm not an engineer
02:58at all, and I kind of wish I was because what they do is so flip and cool, but to just even
03:03be slightly involved in it and be able to give feedback and no more day I like more than just
03:09getting invited to the lab to chuck things around and just experiment, that's what it's all about.
03:14To see features that I've spoken about be implemented and then to see people in other
03:19countries say that's their favorite feature and it really helps them on the day-to-day,
03:23that's what it's all about. Honestly, I think because they move so fluidly, a lot of the time
03:28people think they're gloves, and I'm just like, I could there and then just take them off and show
03:32them, but I think that's just a compliment to the design, honestly. But yeah, people are really
03:36interested in them, and it's like a full 180 from the kind of sympathy that I used to get
03:42with old prosthetics and things, trying to mask that difference. People assume that
03:47you want to hide it and you're hit with quite a lot of pity and things like that,
03:51but I'm living my best life and pity isn't something that I'm really after, and to have a
03:58fun and excited reaction from people when I'm out in public is the most rewarding thing.
04:03They make me feel like a superhero, that's what it's all about. Genuinely, they are amazing,
04:08they've done so much for my confidence, they've done so much for me in the way
04:14they work and things, so it's just super exciting. I'm so proud of the company, I'm so proud to
04:19be a part of it at all, and I just can't wait for them to go global pretty much and just more
04:24and more people get their hands on them.