Health

Bionic Arm Opens New Doors For Mass. Man

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (CBS) ― A Vietnam vet from Grafton is getting a whole new lease on life -- thanks to a new high-tech bionic arm.

Imagine not being able to do something as simple as hold a cup or a newspaper, or shake someone's hand. These are all daily activities which are now possible for a local vet, for the first time in four decades, CBS station WBZ-TV in Boston reports.

Karl Chapin, 59, demonstrated his new state-of-the-art bionic arm at Hanger Prosthetics in Leominster.

Unlike his previous electronic hand, this new "I-limb" actually has tiny sensors which allow Karl to move each finger independently. "The fingers wrap around it like a regular hand."

"There are a total of five motors flexing the muscles around any object he grasps," explained a representative from Hanger.

Karl is the first Boston-area veteran to get the new device 40 years after losing his hand while rescuing a fellow soldier in a grenade attack. "There are more wounded coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq, so somebody needed to do something."

Karl hopes that his new bionic hand, which costs about $50,000, will make as big a difference for other vets as it has for him.

"Great thing is the psychological aspect of finally being able to reach out after 40 years and shake someone's hand… It feels really neat to walk down the street holding my wife's and -- Feels kinds neat.

And losing his hand hasn't slowed Karl down one bit. Not only is he a sky-driving instructor, but he also plays golf, scuba-dives, races Porsches and has a black belt in karate.

Next month, he's donating a kidney to a stranger he was matched with, through the organ bank.

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