A double amputee named Nick Garwood has learned to walk again after a pioneering operation, the first of its kind, was successfully completed.
An Oregon-based surgeon completed the first osseointegration, a surgery in which a titanium implant is inserted into a patient’s bone. This allows the direct attachment of a prosthetic limb.
Doctors claim that the method has a number of advantages over conventional arm and leg socket-mounted prostheses.
Patients who undergo this surgery will have less pain, greater independence and regain the ability to feel the ground beneath them – this is called ‘osseoperception’.
This ‘game changer’ of surgery, as Dr. Steve Wallace, the surgeon who led the osseointegration procedures, said: “It gives people their life back.”
Nick Garwood was amputated after a rare bacterial infection left him septic
“I could be stronger, faster and overall more capable,” Garwood said of his life-changing surgery
‘I found out almost immediately that the socket prostheses, the first legs I had, were not going to work because of the skin damage. There was just no way we were going to make that work,” said Garwood (pictured).
Garwood said he explored osseointegration as a last resort when Wallace moved to Portland
Wallace discusses the details of this new procedure with a local NBC affiliate KKG and why it didn’t come to market sooner.
“It is a device that is inserted into the bone, passes through the skin and allows direct attachment of the prosthesis,” Wallace said.
‘These implants were basically scaled up many years ago compared to a dental implant. They’ve probably been available in the U.S. for about a decade, but they’re becoming more popular and they haven’t been fully approved by the FDA yet, but we’re getting them approved on a tentative basis.”
Following completion of the first osseointegration surgery, two more patients were given the opportunity to undergo the procedure at Wallace.
After his surgery, healthcare providers helped Garwood find the prosthesis that best fit his limbs
Pictured: Garwood’s wife, Abigail, and Nick pose for a photo together
Garwood admits new prosthesis ‘makes walking so much easier’
Pictured: Garwood’s selfie with his wife Abigail
Garwood was able to test the prosthetics before taking them for a test drive
‘It felt great. It felt really great,” Garwood said of being able to stand for the first time in years
Nick Garwood was amputated after a rare bacterial infection left him septic. The doctors saved his life, but at the cost of both his legs.
‘I found out almost immediately that the socket prostheses, the first legs I had, were not going to work because of the skin damage. There was just no way we were going to make that work,” Garwood told KGW.
Garwood said he explored osseointegration as a last resort when Wallace moved to Portland.
“I could be stronger, faster and generally more capable,” he said. “It was so great that Dr. Wallace was here and was able to do it on site.”
After his surgery, healthcare providers helped Garwood find the prosthesis that best fit his limbs. He tested them out and got up for the first time in two hours.
‘It felt great. It felt really great,” Garwood said. ‘I felt the ground beneath me, through my bones.
‘That makes it so much easier to walk. I know where my foot is in space in the same intuitive way I knew where my foot was when I had my real natural limbs.
‘It feels like I’m stepping on the ground. I feel that same feedback.”