Mum, 40, on adapting to life with a bionic hand, exercise and throwing an amputation party
When she realised she would have to remove her hand - paralysed in a car accident two decade earlier - in order to get a new 'bionic' arm, one woman decided to make the best of it
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MUM Nicola Wilding, 40, an Accountant, lives in South London with her retired parents Mary, 66, and Robert, 70.
She talks to us about life after surgery and new challenges.
“As I put the bottle of prosecco on ice, my first guest rang the doorbell. Taking a deep breath, I checked my lipstick and smoothed down my new outfit.
"That night, I was throwing a bash none of us would forget – a ‘goodbye hand’ party to celebrate its amputation.
"For nearly 20 years I hadn’t been able to use my right hand. I knew I was lucky to be alive after a horrific car accident in 1999 when I was 21. I was driving on the motorway and my tyre blew out at 70mph. The accident severed nerves in my spinal cord and gave me Bell’s palsy, meaning the right side of my face drooped as though I’d had a stroke. I also couldn’t feel or move my hand. Doctors tried numerous muscle and nerve transplants, but nothing worked.
"As I was a single mum, when I was discharged from hospital my best option was for me and my son Callum, now 22, to move back in with my parents. At first I’d have angry outbursts about being unable to do the simplest tasks, like dressing myself, which my mum had to help me with. I also needed help caring for Callum and, most frustratingly, had to ask him to help me with things like fastening buttons. When I went out, I’d get funny looks, as my hand would hang motionless by my side. In the end I started wearing a sling to avoid questions.
"It also became a massive hindrance. I’d trap it in doors without realising, and once it slipped down the side of the bed on to a hot radiator while I was sleeping. I couldn’t feel a thing, but ended up with serious burns.
"At the start of 2011, I came across a documentary about a consultant in Vienna who was developing a £30,000 ‘mind-reading’ bionic arm. To see if it might work for me, that June I travelled to Vienna for a biopsy, which revealed I was suitable. However, I’d first need to have my hand amputated, plus raise the cash for my new bionic one.
"I’d also become really uncomfortable with how my weight had crept up from 10st and a size 10 to 13st and a size 16 over the last decade.
"So, desperate to lose weight and spurred on by the thought of a new bionic hand, in May 2012 I decided to sign up for a sponsored triathlon after a friend suggested it.
"It meant going from doing almost zero exercise to running, swimming and cycling regularly, but I realised it could be the push I needed.
"Training with just one working hand was exhausting. I started off running with my hand pinned to my body with a Velcro strap. But a month later, in June 2012, when I crossed the finish line having completed a 250m swim, 2.5k run and 10k bike ride, I felt shattered but unstoppable. I wanted to do it all over again, so signed up for another straight away and carried on drumming up sponsorship money.
BTW
- The bionic hand will respond to electrical impulses from Nicola’s brain, allowing her to move it.
- With her new arm, she’ll need anti-rejection medication for the rest of her life.
"By the end of 2016, not only had my weight dropped to just over 10st, but I’d received the date for my amputation on the NHS: January 9, 2017.
"To mark the occasion, I decided to give my hand a proper send-off. I invited 100 friends and family to my house, and everyone bought raffle tickets to win afternoon tea at the Ritz.
"I even organised a game to guess how much my hand would weigh once it was cut off. It sounds macabre, but there wasn’t an inch of me that regretted my decision, and I raised £400.
"Two days later, when I woke up after surgery and saw my bandaged stump, the only thing I felt was happy relief. I was back at work within a week. I feel so much freer without my hand and can even run faster without it.
"I’m halfway to raising the funds for my bionic limb and am hoping to get it within the next two years.
"It will take some training to get used to it, but after everything I’ve overcome, I’m excited to take on another challenge.”