by James Davies

After months of fundraising, a young boy from Bude is one step closer to finally getting his dream prosthetic.

Over the last few months the Post has followed the progress of a fundraiser for Jayden Henry-Poole, from Bude. Regular readers will recognise Jayden as the young man who has been hoping for a prosthetic arm.

Jayden, his family and friends were tasked with raising a daunting £13,000 after Jayden was told he would be eligible for a Hero Arm, produced by OpenBionics in Bristol.

A high-tech prosthetic limb which detects muscle movements, it can be used with minimal effort and features vibrations, beepers, buttons and lights to provide intuitive notifications that help the user control the bionic arm movements.

Hopes for this life-changing limb had communities coming together to do their part for Jayden’s cause. Raffles, tattoo flash, events, and sales all helped add up the pennies to raise the much-needed funds and finally, after months of work, Jayden and his family were able to take a trip to Open Bionics.

Speaking to the Post about their trip, Jayden’s mother, Rebecca said: ‘‘On Wednesday, April 5, we started our journey to Bristol at 5.30am meaning we had to get up at 4.30am but the kids did fantastically well travelling up, we made it just on time by 9.30 with a pit stop for McDonald’s breakfast!

“We met Helder the prothesist at Open Bionics and he got Jayden working straight away. At first Jayden’s little arm was attached to a bionic hand and Helder was checking his muscle movements, it was absolutely fantastic to watch as I didn’t get the chance to go along to the open day with his dad. After checking his movements, making sure the sensors for the Hero Arm are in the correct place for Jayden to use easily and doing all measurements again Helder then made a cast of Jayden’s arm ready for a test run the next day!”

After an excited night, day two was the big day.

“When we got back to Open Bionics Jayden was put to the test again, this time with his test socket Helder made the night before,” Rebecca explained. “He attached Jayden’s arm to the bionic hand again and made sure his test socket wasn’t too tight, then he got to try on a test arm! This was longer then Jayden’s rights arm, and heavy too, but in reality it’s no heavier then our own arms! Jayden’s little arm was knackered by the end of all of this, as it takes a lot of muscle strength which he just doesn’t have because he hasn’t had to use them before but we came out with some exercises to build them up.

“During Jayden’s practices, he was asked to take a ball from Helder’s hand, and I absolutely loved watching him do that and the proud look Jayden had when he managed to do it!”

And after taking the gadget for a spin, came the important part, the colour!

“Jayden had lots to choose from when it came to picking a cover for his Hero Arm,” said Rebecca. “In the end we’ve decided to op for a ‘black panther’ style, and a silver vortex cover too so he can switch the covers as and when he likes. We are now in the process of waiting to hear back from Open Bionics about going back up to pick up his arm, which could be the beginning of May. We are so excited to get back up there and bring his arm home!”