Jim Ashworth-Beaumont

Certainly, yeah.

So for four years, I was living with a set of devices that attached to me through a socket.

So that's something that just sits on your residual limb, your stump, and then you apply force through that interface.

Now, what you're really trying to do is actually apply force from the skeleton to the prosthetic, but you've got all this overlying tissue, so it makes it very unstable, all that soft tissue, like fat or muscle or so forth.

And it just makes it quite difficult to operate a limb.

So there's this technology called dossier integration, which basically means that you can take a metal pin, insert it into the end of the bone, it sticks out through the skin, and then you attach your prosthetic device to that metal post.

Indeed, yeah.

So although you're buying into a connector system, almost, it makes it much more secure.

It's transformed my life, I would have to say.

Before having the osseointegration, I was able to operate a prosthetic limb.

I wasn't able to use advanced limb technology because that's heavy.

After this surgery, which I had in October 2024, I'm able to basically put my entire body weight through that limb.

So it's very satisfying from a sporting point of view, because it means I can do pull-ups, I can do press-ups.

But also from an activities of daily living and professional point of view, I have got a very high level of dexterity and ability to use the arm.

I think I would also have tried to be empathic and understanding of my patients' needs in order to treat them effectively.

But I think now, having been through the mill, as it were, I have lived experience of this.

So for me, it doesn't take a leap of the imagination not to put myself in the place of my patients.

Although I don't consider myself to have a disability, I've certainly got a visible difference and patients can see that as soon as I walk through the door.

So the gulf between the practitioner and the patient has been broken.

So it makes the process of building a relationship with the patient, understanding their needs and hopefully working towards a good solution for them much easier.