Andrew's Hero Arm Help

Hi I’m Andrew and I was born without my left hand. 


When I finally told my family that I was applying to Open Bionics for a Hero Arm, they were all pleased and excited for me. They understood; watching me growing up, the difficulties and discrimination that I faced, along with the utterly useless NHS prosthetic arms that I had the “pleasure” of using throughout my childhood. My mother reminisced about my birth but told me a fact, that she had never told me before:

“After you were born, they put me in a room by myself and not out on the main ward with all the other new mothers. I don’t think they wanted me to see all their perfect babies, like you were something to be ashamed of – as if I wasn’t guilty enough!”



I found Open Bionics on a Facebook advert.  I liked the idea of a Hero Arm and I went to the website to have a look. I talked to my family and Girlfriend about it and decided that it was something that I really wanted to apply for. This could be life changing for me!

Here is the Hero Arm...



NHS prosthetic arms are cumbersome, awkward and just tend to get in the way! I hated them – they are really heavy and pretty much useless! I hated wearing them to school – I would be fed up by the end of the school day and you would see me walking out with it sticking (hand up) out of my school bag on my back!


Little children are more intrigued and ask a lot of questions as they don’t understand what discrimination is, so when I was very little, I never really knew I was any different. As I got older though, they started to notice. They wouldn’t include me in games or playtime as I think they saw me as “less capable” …. I stopped wearing my prosthetic when I was about 9, because it just made me stand out more…. but then I had to deal with bullying and name calling such as “one arm bandit” or “pirate” – which were very hurtful. This had a big impact on my confidence, and I became less outgoing. 


The problem was, now other people started to notice that I was different, I started to notice that I was different. My parents have always pushed me to do things, they never once told me “oh you can't do that because of your arm”… so I started to ride my bike more often. It was something that gave me so much freedom. I remember one sunny day riding my bike home….. and I noticed my shadow; which was lopsided……. Nobody said anything to me; but I was shocked by how I perceived myself – I looked different…. How must I look to other people? I lost so much confidence that day. I stopped doing things that I had enjoyed doing – swimming for example….. I never was able to run around the park in summer because I was always in a Jumper. I hated going shirtless on the beach on holidays….. I always found a way to hide my arm and self away.

High school was a nightmare. Teachers would try to be inclusive; but didn’t always manage to be – I remember my Home Economics Teacher telling my mother I couldn’t work in the kitchen unless I wore my prosthetic for “safety reasons”……luckily my mother had none of it and told her:  “p*iss off, how safe would you be carrying a piece of dead wood around the kitchen?”

I struggled to make friends because people saw me as different. Having no left forearm had a big impact on my schooling and education- because I hated going – So I just didn’t, meaning that I scraped through, not even a handful of GCSEs.

I was coming to the end of puberty around this time and I remember having a deep and emotional conversation to my parents about girls, love and the future. My confidence was so low that at that point, I never thought I would ever fall in love, or be happily married with a family. I didn’t think anyone would want me. I fell into a depression and hated the world.

I have always loved cars, mechanics and “how things work” so I applied for an apprenticeship at college – IMI in Mechanics and I LOVED it. It was dirty, messy and so interesting. I wanted to become a mechanic and own my own garage. 


My dreams were shattered when my assessor said “I don’t see why you applied for this course; you are never going to be able to get a job in mechanics”

I left the next day and didn’t return. 

I was on a downward spiral then…… floating from one temp job to another. I hate (and still do) interviews. Employers are not supposed to discriminate, but they do. I went for an office job in a factory and during the interview they said I would be better suited to the factory floor. I spent half a day on the factory floor and was then asked to leave because “you’re never going to be able to keep up”

From 16 years old until I was 27 years old, I never had a job that lasted more than 2 or 3 months. I went for hundreds of interviews and even worked for my brother in law to try to get some real employment experience – but nobody wanted me because of my arm – it was such a barrier to everything. 

I met and fell in love with my daughter’s mother at this time. When I became a dad my world shifted and for the first time, I was GOOD at something! Having that relationship and becoming a dad did boost my confidence, My daughter never saw me as being different. 


Charlotte is now 8 years old and has asked questions about my arm, but I’m her daddy so it doesn’t make any difference to her what I look like. I met my girlfriend Heather in 2016 and she is the love of my life. I remember nervously telling her about my arm over text, fully expecting to be “blown off” – her response was beautiful “Thank you for telling me, at least I know which side to stand on when I want to hold your hand”. We have been together now for nearly 5 years. 

My confidence is slowly coming back, but I am not as confident as I want to be. I still can’t take my shirt off on holiday, or wear short sleeved shirts in the summer. I can’t open doors and carry things…… I have NEVER used a knife and fork together……. I can’t even cut my own steak up. Having a Hero Arm will make me mighty, will give me my own power to be confident, to go into the world knowing that YES I CAN. It will change my life for the better. 


I want to be able to look proportioned and symmetrical in photos – especially my wedding photos. I don’t want to have to hide myself, I want people to talk to me about my arm because I have a Hero arm – not because I don’t have one. 

I am also worried about my physical health – I have little or no muscle on my left shoulder/arm. I have to do everything with my right arm, wrist and hand. My wrist is painful and I know I will get arthritis in the future. My back is painful, and I have had to take time off work because my back is so painful – which then has an impact on my finances. I worry that I will end up in a wheelchair. 

The difference that this would make to my life will be phenomenal…. But we are not quite there yet but with your help maybe we could?

More information about The Open Bionics Foundation: The Open Bionics Foundation provides financial support to socioeconomically deprived people with limb differences who need multi-grip upper limb prosthetics.