The Boy with No Hands

Meet Alan, a happy young boy from an ordinary family

who likes nothing more than playing video games,

wrestling with his stepdad

and sometimes even doing his homework.

Just an ordinary boy.

Alan was born with hands, but after a serious illness,

the decision had to be made

to have them amputated to save his life.

The last time I held Alan's hand was the night before his operation

for him to have his hands removed.

Now, at the age of ten, he has learned to cope,

but still struggles with some things we take for granted.

He held his hand out with a tiny little bit of food on

and it was slipping off his hand.

Oh, I can't do it!

Even with his closest friends,

he refuses to talk about his disability.

How does it feel not to have fingers, Al?

Uh-uh.

But this young boy is about to embark on an extraordinary journey.

Alan is about to be given the chance of being the first child in Wales

and the second youngest in the world

to receive a state of the art £30,000 bionic hand.

We follow Alan on his ground-breaking journey.

This is Alan's story.

'I'm Alan, I'm ten years old

'and I live in Loughor, near Swansea.

'I can unzip my coat

'and I can climb

'and swing on a swing.

'My dream is to ride a bike like a big boy.'

Alan has had many challenges in his short life,

but he has faced all of them with amazing determination

and that hasn't gone unrecognised,

as he recently won a Child of Courage Award.

Now, his mum told us in her nomination,

"All my brave little boy wants

"is to be like all the other kids his age -

"independent, being able to ride a bike,

"eat with a knife and fork and dress himself."

His mum also added,

"So I'm doing everything in my power to make his dreams come true."

Ladies and gentlemen, Alan Gifford!

Alan's mum Hannah has worked tirelessly for the past year,

raising the £30,000 needed for Alan

to receive a state of the art bionic hand,

which isn't available on the NHS.

It hasn't been an easy task with hours and hours of research

and countless charity events, coffee mornings, auctions

and motorcycle rideouts to raise funds

for the Hands For Alan charity.

When I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't have been happier.

He was born normal. He was born on time.

They scanned Alan after he was born and found out

blood flow wasn't getting round his body as well as it should have been.

I was devastated to find out that, at nine days old,

he had to have his first operation to keep him alive.

Between then and three,

I'd say he's had easily at least 40 operations

just to sort out his hands.

That one there...

Hannah's eldest two boys live with their father Nicholas,

who was there by Hannah's side

through Alan's very difficult early years.

Yeah, that's what we call it.

'I met Alan when he was a matter of months old.'

I was there all the way

through his time in hospital from beginning to end.

He was in and out of hospital quite a lot for various reasons.

Not long before his third birthday, he had his major heart surgery.

He went in for the operation in July.

We were told by the doctors three times that he could lose his life

and we had to be prepared for that, to get everybody in.

It is one of the most heartbreaking things you could do...

..to know that could be the last time you see him.

It shows what a little fighter he is because he beat it three times.

Alan pulled through, but that wasn't the end of the agony for them.

He was in intensive care then for the first week.

I noticed that Alan's fingertips were starting to turn black.

And later in the week, both hands,

right down to the wrists,

were completely black.

Although Alan's hands were dying, doctors had to wait

until he was strong enough to undergo more surgery.

Just after his third birthday, they said he was well enough

to go for the operation to have his hands removed.

After the operation, he came through it OK and he was back, he was alive.

That's all that mattered.

I didn't care that he had no hands because he was alive.

That's all I kept thinking, "He's alive, he's here with me.

"I haven't lost my son."

When Alan came out of hospital after having his fingers removed,

I was seven and I knew that he was different

because he didn't have his fingers,

but I didn't treat him any differently.

He was still my little brother.

All I knew was that he was alive, he was here and now I'm 15

and I know everything that was going on, I understand it now.

His family have been a great support throughout,

but Alan had to face the challenge

of going to school just like any child.

All right, Alan? Make sure you stay in the lines.

'He's a joy to teach.

'He's happy, he's determined,'

he puts 100% effort into everything he does.

'I was apprehensive because I'd never taught anyone without hands.

'You don't know what to expect, do you, but sometimes you forget that

'he's got no hands cos he's just as able as other children in the class.

'Yeah, his handwriting is really good.

'You wouldn't even think he has a disability

'and he absolutely loves handwriting.

'It's one of his favourite subjects.'

Even though Alan has mastered a host of practical tasks,

he still struggles to talk about his disability.

How does it feel not to have fingers, Al?

Uh-uh.

What?

-I'll not tell you that, like.

-OK.

Does it feel normal?

-I don't want to talk about it.

-No.

-When...

-I don't like it.

-Huh?

I don't like talking about it.

-He doesn't like talking about it.

-OK, sorry.

'We're working on strategies on how to get him

'to be confident rather than being afraid and self-conscious.'

'I like basketball because it helps you get fit

'and it's a fun game to play.

'With basketball, usually we use our fingertips

'to control the basketball, so when I found out

'there was a boy with no fingers,

'I thought that would be very difficult and very challenging.'

A little bit tricky to begin with, but he gets the hang of it

and he just jumps in and carries on.

'He is just a normal boy that happens to have a disability.'

He's had people make fun of the fact that he's ten years old

and he should be able to do it, but obviously he can't do it.

People don't like differences, I find, so that's when we tend

to get people saying stuff or bullying and things like that.

Ben, Alan's stepdad, is all too aware that people's first reactions

to Alan aren't always helpful.

The first thoughts when I met Alan, I'm not going to lie,

I was a bit taken aback.

I'd never seen a child before with no hands

and I didn't know how to react.

'As I get to know Alan more and more,

'I see the person that he is, the loving child that he is,

'the caring son that he is for his mother.

'Best way to describe Alan is a lovable boy

'who will do anything for anyone, no matter what.

'He'll help anybody out any time,

'especially his brothers and sisters.'

I'm going to go on the zipwire and go high, go high at the end.

'He surprises me and makes me proud every day with what he can do

'and what he achieves and just being him.

'He's so loving.'

Get your shoes on!

'Alan, at his age with his disability, has managed

'to master as much as I think we're going to be able to with him...'

One...two...three!

'..which is why we decided that, OK, he needs something to help him

'and after a lot of research, and a lot of looking into it,

'we decided, right, the bionic hand was the best way for us

'to progress with everything that he will need to do.'

Wheeeee! Whoa!

'Today, we are having a day out at the duck place near my house.

'We are all going together -

'me, Mum, Dad and my brother and sisters.

'I'm so excited that I might get to feed a real duck.

'It's a little family treat because, tomorrow,

'I go to Scotland for my new hand.'

'To feed the ducks is easier for the little ones, whereas, for Alan,

'he finds it hard to get his hand into the bucket to be able

'to get as many seeds for the ducks as the others,

'and he's throwing them, he's dropping them.

'It's a lot harder for him.

'He held his hand out with a tiny little bit of food on

'and it was slipping off his hand.'

-Oh, I can't do it!

-It's all right. Hey, give me your other hand.

'Alan's feelings about the hand since day one has been excitement.

'He wants to be able to do new things

'as well as do better at things he can already do.'

With this hand, he's going to be able to do so much.

It's going to change his life for the better.

'I would like to come back with my new hand and feed the ducks

'and maybe they can try and take it out of my new hand.'

You want some more?

First thing I'm going to do when I get my new hand

is to go trick or treating

and hold my bag with this hand,

and get the treats with my new hand.

Alan is helping his mum pack the case for their journey to Scotland.

I'm going to wake up and everyone's going to get dressed,

and then, we take the plane to Scotland, to get my hand.

This is a very emotional time for Hannah,

as the wait is almost over and it brings back some powerful memories.

The last time I held Alan's hand was basically

the night before his operation,

and taking him down to the theatre for him to have his hands removed.

'Even though I know he couldn't feel me touching his hands...'

I love you.

'..I still held on to him,

'knowing that was the last time that we would see him with his hands.'

Can I have a kiss?

'Very emotional time, back then.

'And to be able to feel that again is going to be amazing.'

OK. All done!

Can't quite believe this day has actually arrived,

but it's here and we are set to go.

First time flying for both me and Alan.

To know that we've achieved the first part

of our goal for Alan is just the best feeling in the world.

The final step in Alan's long journey

to a new hand will be Scotland.

He's embarking on an intensive, week-long process of having

his £30,000 bionic hand fitted and learning how to use it.

This will not involve any surgery - the highly sophisticated

electronic hand fits onto Alan's arm like a glove.

But there is one major challenge - mastering the new technology.

Touch Bionics is a manufacturer of a multi-articulating prosthetic hand.

All of the fingers have a motor on each finger, which really lets it

shape round objects much more like your human hand would.

-Oh, wow, look at that!

-Yeah!

-That is an Iron Man hand, isn't it?

-How are you, Alan?

-Good.

-Good! Are you excited?

-Mm-hm.

-Excellent, great.

-Ready to do some work with the hands?

-Yeah.

The human hand is a major feat of engineering

and extraordinarily difficult to replicate with man-made mechanics.

And although this bionic hand is at the forefront of prosthesis

technology, Alan has a long way to go to reach his own expectations.

This will be a huge learning curve for him.

The first thing we would do when somebody learns to use

a prosthesis is we identify the optimum muscle

sites for controlling it.

So, these are within the residual arm and we can position

little electrode sensors on, just sit on the surface of the skin,

and that will pick up the best part of the muscle activity,

which we then train to get clear and independent signals,

one for opening and one for closing of the hand.

What we've got here is a silicone socket.

The silicone is a nice, soft and forgiving material,

nice and comfortable next to the skin.

We've got a zip in it, which is allowing it to just open up,

so that Alan can push into it and position, then fasten it

so it is securely holding on his arm,

with the electrodes nicely in position on his skin.

We'll now do the same thing again with your socket on.

But now we've got the hand in position, OK?

So, then you're controlling the hand,

rather than just looking at lines on the screen.

You can actually see the movements of the hand as well, OK?

For the first time in years, Alan is able to move his fingers.

But keeping a grip on any object takes huge concentration.

Now, what I'd like you to do,

if you could give it a little gentle squeeze and then just relax.

And I want you to move your arm about with no signals.

Oh, OK.

So, we've got the hand in position now.

The socket is the same as it was, the electrodes in position

exactly as they were, but, obviously, we've got the hand attached. So...

That's good stuff.

The tasks Alan could do easily before now become a difficult

challenge with his bionic hand.

It is back to basics for Alan, but if he can't get on top of it,

his dream could end here.

It's early days, but so far, so good.

Phew! Heart-wrenching for me, really, to see him doing that,

because I've never seen him using a hand before, it's...

-HE SNIFFS

-..absolutely awesome.

He's a superstar.

The first time today picking up any object with the prosthesis,

with the hand attached, so all the good work

he was doing earlier with controlling his signals,

he has now put into practice by actually engaging with objects.

'He can then extend that, as their learning grows, to become

'more adept in their day-to-day-type activities.

'So, things that are more complex than just picking up and

'putting down, so making a sandwich or opening packets,

'preparing meals, or something that is important to Alan is

'riding his bike, so we can look at those practical-type activities.'

Are you going to tell us all what it says?

-Because I can read it over here...

-I love Mum and Dad.

It's been a hard week for Alan, getting used to his new hand.

It's the last day at Touch Bionics

and everyone thinks he's ready to see and use his personalised

and completed bionic hand for the first time.

-Are you excited about seeing your new arm?

-Yeah.

What do you think it's going to look like? Iron Man.

-Iron Man, you think so? Do you want to see it?

-Yeah!

-There we go.

Oh, wow, look at that!

-What do you think?

-Good!

BIONIC HAND WHIRS

THEY CHUCKLE

Remember, we can use a different type of grip

that might make it easier. So, which one are you going for?

Alan has made great progress.

He is now able to use the hand to perform more complex tasks,

opening and closing the hand with muscle movement inside the socket

and utilising the four set grips saved into its memory.

To change any of these, he simply

moves the arm forward, back, left or right.

36 different grips can be programmed to the hand

through a mobile app - a lot for a boy of ten.

But Alan has never let anything stop him.

Children like Alan get a lot of benefit from the prosthesis,

particularly as they want to become more independent from their parents,

to be like their friends. You know,

they don't want to be left behind at school, or left out socially,

so it's important to be able to use a prosthesis which will allow

them to be much more functional in their day-to-day activities.

It's amazing to watch, because he's never been able to do

anything like that without assistance.

Just to be able to see him doing it himself and actually buttering...

Good! All right.

With bionic hand successfully fitted and operational,

a whole new world starts to open up for Alan.

Each task, a brand-new challenge.

With pen in hand, he now redraws a picture

he made earlier in the week, with one significant difference.

This time, the drawing has fingers on one hand.

Wow, look at that!

Look, you've got fingers!

Dad!

You're a little superstar.

Come here, boy.

Come here.

Ohh!

Dad, Dad, Dad...

All right, boy.

'Oh, happy, we're very happy to be where we are now.'

A new life ahead of you, isn't it? Eh?

Yeah.

And before he leaves, Alan has a special visitor -

Josh Cathcart, the youngest child in the world

to receive this kind of bionic hand.

We knew Alan was getting his hand today,

so we thought we'd come across and see how, um,

they felt about each other when they've both got their hands,

so, it's sort of a good moment for them. They're both the youngest in

the world to have it, so, it's good that they're quite close together.

And to help build their bond, he has a special gift for Alan.

Oh, wow, look at that!

Wow, that's brilliant, thank you.

A world first - the youngest bionic handshake.

I'm really looking forward to being able to walk out of here...

Can't believe what I'm saying!

..Um, just to be able to walk out of here and hold his hand.

Sorry!

-Thank you.

-Thanks very much for coming here.

Back home in Loughor, it's Halloween.

Alan said the first thing he wanted to do with his hand was

to go trick or treating.

And tonight is Halloween.

I'm going to go to lots of houses and scare them!

Raah!

One of his dreams is about to come true.

If he can get some treats, of course.

-ALL:

-Trick or treat!

Another milestone for Alan.

Today, we are at Alan's school, and it is the first time since we've

been back from Scotland and got his hand that he's come to school.

He's really excited to be able to show all of his friends.

The first visit is to Mrs Sanderson, the headteacher.

Let's have a look!

You look a happy boy this morning.

Wow! Goodness! What does it feel like, Alan?

-Um, it feels heavy.

-It feels heavy, does it? It does look quite heavy.

What does it do? Can you move it for me? Oh, wow!

-Wow, that really is bionic, isn't it, Mum?

-Yeah, definitely!

Amazing, wow. How are you making that happen?

Um, I've got a sensor there and a sensor there.

And that one is for closing, that one is for opening.

Look at this!

-ALL:

-Oooh!

That looks cool.

A proud moment for Alan.

Wow, silence!

The room is captivated.

And the once shy and reserved Alan is coming out of his shell.

The first time he's been able to show off his hand in front

of his class, and his wicked sense of humour is given a helping hand.

LAUGHTER

The confidence is such a change, in just a week,

just his face is like, totally lit up, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-So, that's good, that's what we wanted.

It made me feel very emotional, but also very proud of him,

to see that his confidence is building, he is...

"Yeah, I can do this."

Alan!

HE LAUGHS

It's nice to meet you!

Nice to meet you!

Two months on and Alan is getting used to his bionic hand.

He's learning to use it,

he's adjusting things to how he needs things, he's finding new

things he wants to do with it every day and it has changed his life.

Toast tastes better when you do it on your own.

I am going back to the duck place today.

I was upset last time, because I couldn't feed them properly.

If you just put your hand down, they'll come to you, Alan, OK?

There we go.

Compared to what we were like last time,

when he was struggling to get the food to stay on his hand,

and now to see them actually feeding out of his hand is amazing.

Alan has found it a big challenge to learn to write again

with his new hand.

But now his teacher has started to see a marked improvement.

The Thursday after he came back from having his hand - very big,

very messy, lots of it.

However, he did complete the work, but it's really hard to read.

The following week, it got slightly smaller, we'd worked really hard

with him getting it a bit smaller, reminding him to take his time.

And then, this is the work that I think Alan would be probably

the most proud of.

The hand is great, with the technology and everything,

he can move it and do things like he could do with a real hand,

but at the end of the day, it's not a real hand, it still has its

limitations, there's still stuff he's not going to be able to do.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't stop him,

and since he's had it, his confidence has soared so much.

He is like a different child.

All his life, Alan has wanted to ride a bike.

Now he has his first bike and he's ready to have a go.

It is another big day for Alan.

Everything that we've done, all the hard work, has paid off.

It's been a hard few years.

Since the day we decided to start all the fundraising,

I never thought this day would be possible.

To see him now riding his bike has made everything worthwhile.

And, hopefully, now in a couple of years' time, he will have

a second hand and there will be nothing to hold him back.

The future is looking bright.

I've wanted to ride a bike my entire life.

And now, because I'm riding one, I feel really, really happy.