Josh, 9, first to get small bionic hand

A nine-year-old who was bullied for having only one hand has become the first boy in the UK to be fitted with a new child-sized bionic hand.

Josh Cathcart, from Dalgety Bay in Fife, was tormented by classmates for his disability but now he said he cannot wait to show off his “awesome” new limb to friends at school.

Parents Clare and James told the Press Association how they were motivated to find a solution after Josh became withdrawn and came across Touch Bionics in Livingston, West Lothian.

Touch had just developed the i-limb Quantum, an extra-small version of their prosthetic hand which gives Josh a range of motion.

Josh said: “I got it put on about two days ago. It feels quite heavy. I can stick my thumb up. I can make a pinch grip, I can get a grip for cutting with a knife.

“I made myself a bagel yesterday. I can open bottles and packets with it, I can stack up blocks, I can build lego with it and I can pull my trousers up.”

Have you seen this? Josh Cathcart, who is 9 and from Fife, gets youngest bionic hand | WATCH: pic.twitter.com/7TbmNpSH38

— LBC News Scotland (@LBCNewsScot) August 21, 2015

Clare said: “Josh had been getting picked on and became quite withdrawn and upset, so we started looking for something a bit more advanced, something that moved.

“So, we had chats with him and then went on the internet and came across this company.

“He was born missing a hand. At first, I didn’t really give it much thought to it, but as time went on I blamed myself for it.”

Wiping away tears, she said: “Now I can see him with two hands.” To Josh’s visible protestations, she added: “It gives him his independence, so he can now make his own food and tidy his own room.”

James said: “Obviously his socket’s going to grow, so he’ll get about nine months to a year out of this one and then he will have to come again and get a new socket.”