'Tesco's Hinckley Hero' - Funding goal reached for bionic arm

Callum Lapworth was born without his left hand and raised over £5,000 through crowd funding to get a high-tech replacement.

He needed to raise just shy of £5,000 by the end of March in order to be granted the same amount by the charity, the 'Open Bionics Foundation.'

The Hinckley local has now smashed that target, raising £5,215 as of the 16th February. 

In a post on his Go Fund Me page Callum said, 'I'm so happy, it's official, I'm getting a robot arm! Thank you everyone.'

The arm, which is fully customisable, will be a major improvement over previous prosthetic limbs according to Callum.

Speaking at the start of the campaign, he said, "It would be an absolute dream come true to be able to get a Hero Arm. No longer would I feel the need to hide my arm but I will want to show off my awesome bionic arm."

Growing up without his left hand, Callum would always have to explain why he was missing a hand when meeting new people. This meant he tried to hide it as much as possible.

"When I was at school, others wouldn't always understand so I'd have to keep repeating myself.

"People who I can't remember will still remember me simply because of my missing hand," he added.

After applying to The Open Bionics Foundation, a charity which helps people afford the £10,000 device, Callum has been granted 50% funding towards a multi grip bionic arm called ‘The Hero Arm’. He needed to raise the rest of the money by the end of march.

He said, "It would be an absolute dream come true to be able to get a Hero Arm. No longer would I feel the need to hide my arm but I will want to show off my awesome bionic arm."

"I love my job...‘I love serving people and helping the community, especially throughout the pandemic.

"It is such a sociable role that I know having a Hero Arm would really make a huge difference to my confidence that I would feel like I could take on anything.

"I want people to not see me as Callum with no hand but Callum with the Bionic Hand! How cool would that be!"