A Chinese farmer who lost both his hands in a freak accident has turned his misfortune into a family business by building his own pair of bionic arms.
Sun Jifa, from China's northern Jilin province, lost both his hands when a fishing explosive went off prematurely in his home nine years ago.
Unable to afford the expensive prosthetic arms that the local hospitals offered, Sun bought a low-grade pair which proved near-useless for routine farm work and caring for his wife and three daughters.
Eager to get his hands back, Sun spent the next eight years crafting his own steel bionic pair from scratch with little direction but his own intuition. The results have changed his life.
"It transfers the power from the natural movement of my elbow into the finger, allowing it to grab and hold. This is the left hand. For the other hand, rotating the two bones that I have left in this arm allows my right hand to open and close like this," explained Sun.
Sun's hands aren't just able to handle the complexities of his farm labour and shop work - they can also perform routine tasks ranging from picking up a spoon to lighting a cigarette.
Sun said that he has already sold around one thousand steel limbs for around 3000 yuan (£324) each, which he says is only a tenth the price of what most hospitals charge for higher-quality prosthetics.
Sun Jifa, from China's northern Jilin province, lost both his hands when a fishing explosive went off prematurely in his home nine years ago.
Unable to afford the expensive prosthetic arms that the local hospitals offered, Sun bought a low-grade pair which proved near-useless for routine farm work and caring for his wife and three daughters.
Eager to get his hands back, Sun spent the next eight years crafting his own steel bionic pair from scratch with little direction but his own intuition. The results have changed his life.
"It transfers the power from the natural movement of my elbow into the finger, allowing it to grab and hold. This is the left hand. For the other hand, rotating the two bones that I have left in this arm allows my right hand to open and close like this," explained Sun.
Sun's hands aren't just able to handle the complexities of his farm labour and shop work - they can also perform routine tasks ranging from picking up a spoon to lighting a cigarette.
Sun said that he has already sold around one thousand steel limbs for around 3000 yuan (£324) each, which he says is only a tenth the price of what most hospitals charge for higher-quality prosthetics.
Source : ITN
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