Amputee Hull Soldier Fitted With World's Best Bionic Leg

An amputee soldier from Hull has been given the ultimate gift of being able to walk again after being fitted with the world's most advanced bionic leg.

42-year-old Craig Gadd lost his left leg after stepping on a roadside bomb whilst serving in Afghanistan in 2010.

He thought he'd have to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

But having recently been fitted with a Genium X3 prosthetic limb, he's regained the abiltity to walk again.

It is so advanced it can be programmed to perform different activities and Craig says it's given him his life back. He told Viking FM:

"After the accident, I was laid in the hospital bed in Birmingham and I didn't really know what the future held. I was a keen motorcyclist and skier and I assumed that my life had pretty much ended and I'd be in a wheelchair. I thought my life was over until I got to Headley Court, which is where I underwent my rehabilitation, and realised what can be achieved.

"It allows you to do pretty much everyday, normal activities and beyond. Being waterproof and dustproof, you don't have the constant worry of getting the leg wet or dusty when doing manual work and it just enables you to live a fulfilled life really.

"It has a battery pack, it's got sensors so it enables you to walk up and down the stairs and the set up of them is done via a laptop, so they are very complex.

"You have six pre-programmed modes and you can change them to suit whichever activity you want to do. I've got extended legs so it allows you to do work in a gym. I also have table tennis mode so you can lunge forward without the leg collapsing and there's also a cycle mode.

"It also adjusts your body weight as you're walking and recognises any additional weight that you are carrying. My youngest daughter calls it my 'special leg' but all of her friends think it's amazing and call it a robotic leg, so they are all quite fascinated by it."