Festival Of Words - Patrick Kane
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a robotic arm or a bionic leg? Well, earlier in the term, in Year 7 we had the opportunity to find out just that when meeting Patrick Kane, a triple amputee! During the morning, we walked down to the Freedom Center to the Festival of Words, where we listened to a speech from Patrick Kane, author of Human 2.0: A Celebration of Human Bionics.
We were asked by Patrick to imagine a world where people who had hearing impairments, due to parts of their ear not working properly, can have devices implanted to help them hear properly and where robotic exoskeletons can run marathons. Amazingly, he then went on to tell us this is the world that we live in! Patrick told us a bit about himself. As previously mentioned, Patrick Kane is a triple amputee who has a prosthetic arm, prosthetic leg and is missing the second and third digits on his hand. Patrick Kane has been an amputee since he was 9 months old after contracting sepsis that then spread into his now amputated limbs.
Patrick told us about lots of amazing people such as Arne Larsson (also known as the man with 27 hearts). Arne Larsson needed a pacemaker but at the time that he needed one, pacemakers were very large and bulky and caused a lot of challenges for their users. Arne Larsson was one of the first people ever to be fitted with an internal pacemaker- a huge milestone in the medical industry that marked the start of a new era for people using pacemakers. Ultimately, Arne went on to live for another 43 years and was fitted with a total of 26 pacemakers over those years.
Towards the end of the event, people were able to ask Patrick questions about having prosthesis. Questions were asked such as “Is it harder being an amputee?” and “How much do prosthetic limbs cost?”. One question which accumulated some giggles around the room was “Do you have to queue at Disneyland?”.
In conclusion, it was an amazing, extremely interesting and an eye-opening event that we were extremely lucky to have the opportunity to go to and I think it was a great opportunity for younger generations to know more about prosthesis.
Eira
