An eleven -year-old Star Wars fan who had all four limbs amputated and a bionic arm fitted has learned how to write – with the WRONG hand.
Determined Kye Vincent had his left arm fitted with a R2-D2 bionic arm earlier this year after he lost all four limbs to meningitis.
But that hasn’t deterred the right-handed lad who has used lockdown to learn to write with his other hand.
The Star Wars fanatic says he has taken full advantage of the lockdown and has spent every other day writing and drawing.
Kye, from Leighton Buzzard, Beds., said: “I feel really good being able to write even if I don’t love homework.
“I feel a bit like a superhero because of the arm.
“I used to write with my right thumb, but it was very painful and used to ache a lot.”
Bristol-based firm Open Bionics fitted the young lad with his “dream” £10,000 arm in January 2020.
But the speedy learner needed no time at all to get used to the arm and after only days was able to grasp a pen and write with it.
His mum Cheryl says watching her boy grow in confidence has been a privilege she won’t take for granted.
She said she “couldn’t be more proud” of her little lad.
The mum-of-two said: “I’m so proud of him – I couldn’t even dream to write with my left hand.
“I was really impressed with how quickly he learned but he’s always been a quick learner, kids these days are very adaptive.
“It’s been good that he learned because he’s now able to do his school work.
“He always felt shy at school and never brought his bionic arm with him because he thought it attracted too much attention.
“So now that we’re home it’s given him a chance to really explore its use and feel more confident using it daily.
“He’s been writing every other day and I can see he’s growing in confidence. He’s started drawing as well and I’m sure if he wanted to he could learn to paint.
“It makes me so happy to see him doing these simple little things. I remember what it was like in 2016, when he got meningitis, and I’m so appreciative of everything we have now.”
IT specialist dad Luke Baxter, 30, said: “It took him a bit to get used to it, and his handwriting wasn’t very neat but over time I have no doubts he’ll be writing amazingly.
“It’s been absolutely brilliant to watch him improve over the past few months, and in the long term this will be great for him as he’ll be able to write without any pain.”
Kye was given just days to live when he was struck with meningitis completely “out of the blue” in April 2016.
Doctors at Luton and Dunstable Hospital immediately diagnosed Kye with meningococcal septicaemia and put him into an induced coma for urgent treatment.
The potentially fatal bacterial infection causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord lining, while septicaemia is caused by large numbers of the bugs entering the bloodstream.
Kye was then transferred to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, to be treated at a specialist infectious disease unit.
Within just a few days the ends of his limbs started to turn black and doctors told Cheryl her boy might not make it out of hospital alive.
After spending 38 weeks in hospital the boy, then eight, made a remarkable recovery which was capped off when he was fitted with an amazing R2-D2 bionic arm earlier this year.
The mum-of-two said: “I can’t put into words what it feels like to hear that, I was so scared of losing him.”