Medicine and technology fuse together to provide a soldier that was down on his luck another opportunity for a normal life.
In life, people are always given second chances. For Staff Sergeant James Sides, his came in the form of a mechanical hand.
An Unfortunate Series of Events
It was his second tour of Afghanistan. Sides and his squad mates came across an IED in the middle of the road. He then took it upon himself to diffuse the bomb before it could take the life of anyone crossing that path. At some point during the diffusion, the bomb went off, the explosion causing Sides to lose limb as well as the sight in one of his eyes.
Although he made a healthy recovery, Sides was still struggling to adapt to normal life. Fortunately, thanks to the contributing efforts of the Alfred Mann Foundation and Steve Doctrow, from Rogers & Cowan, Sides received a fully-functioning mechanical hand that has been tested on just seven patients. With an embedded sensor in the Staff Sergeant’s forearm, Sides was able to inform the device on how to move each digit independently.
Hope Can Come Through Technology
This medical breakthrough not only gave Sides a new chance to live his life normally, but also set the precedent for advancing further medical technology. The Alfred Mann Foundation continues to develop advanced medical systems for patients just like Sides. This is an important step for the medical world as it not only gives normal people a second chance in life, but it also provides a sense of direction in where society and technology is heading.