Sun Jifa, a Chinese farmer who lost both his arms after a homemade bomb exploded prematurely, built his own functional prosthetic limbs after he couldn’t afford to buy the one offerd by the hospital.

A few years back, 51-year-old Sun Jifa, from Guanmashan, Jilin province, northern China, was working on explosives designed for blast fishing when a bomb blew up prematurely leaving him without both his arms. He was taken to the hospital and treated, but when doctors proposed he wear a pair of prosthetics designed to make his everyday life easier, Sun realized he just couldn’t afford them. At the same time he knew he needed both his arms in order to work on the farm and provide for his family. That’s when he decided to built his own artificial arms out of scrap metal. After eight years of planning and several prototypes, He finally has a pair of functional arms.

The Chinese farmer claims he controls his homemade bionic limbs with the movements of his elbows, and they allow him to work and feed himself like any other normal person. The only drawback to his inventions, Sun says is that the steel causes them to get very hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Still, the innovative farmer says he’s happy he was able to prove people don’t have to pay a fortune for prosthetics created by profit-oriented companies, and he’s now planning to develop the design for other disabled people.

via Daily Mail