A seven-year-old boy born without a right hand now beams with joy as he tries out his new ‘robotic arm’.
Louie Morgan-Kemp, from Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, had just started fundraising for the prosthesis when a kind-hearted businessman saw his story in the newspapers and offered to pay the full cost of £13,000 £.
The youngster picked up the Ironman-themed Hero Arm this week and can move his mechanical fingers using his arm muscles to press the buttons inside the sleeve.
Louie said the gadget, made by Bristol-based Open Bionics, helps him pick things up, cut food and pour drinks.
He said it was “exciting” to get the arm and he was “pleased” businessman Billy Dixon paid him to get it.
Louie Morgan-Kemp is now enjoying his new Ironman-themed prosthetic arm
The seven-year-old was born without an arm but can now use the £13,000 prosthetic to carry out various daily tasks.
The 73-year-old, from Egham, Surrey, saw an article about the family’s fundraising in the newspapers this year and contacted Louie’s mum on Facebook to offer to pay the full amount.
Mr Dixon said at the time: ‘I couldn’t think of not doing it, it’s just in my nature to do things like that.’
Louie’s mother, Hannah Morgan, 32, said she was grateful to Mr Dixon, adding: ‘We didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
Louie used his arm to drink lemonade from a glass and to hold a bag of chips, using his left hand to eat them, as he learned on Wednesday.
Teaching assistant Ms Morgan said this year’s summer school holidays had been ‘consisting of waiting for this – the Hero Arm’.
The prosthesis, called Hero Arm, is designed and manufactured in the UK.
His mother, Hannah Morgan, said the summer school holidays this year had been “centered on waiting for this – for the Hero Arm”.
Louie can move the hand’s mechanical fingers by using his arm muscles to press buttons inside the sleeve.
The family was raising money to pay for the arm, but kind-hearted businessman Billy Dixon offered to buy it for them.
“That’s all he talked about,” she said.
“People said how cool it was.”
Speaking earlier this year, she said Louie told people he was going to have a ‘robot arm’ and was ‘so excited’.
Open Bionics said the Hero Arm is designed and manufactured in the UK.
He describes it as “the most affordable multi-grip prosthetic arm in the world, with multi-grip functionality and stimulating aesthetics”.
