Diane and Jenny at Will’s birthday in February. Now for an update on the arms. Emotions have ranged from pure joy to complete despair, often in the space of a few seconds. Initially, when Matthew got his new arms, he was rigged up to feed himself. Imagine the feeling of holding food in a fork for the first time. It’s about to provide food to your mouth, and then suddenly the fork drops out of your hand. It’s because the action of moving your arm up to meet your mouth has influenced a muscle in your shoulder that is connected to the prosthetic, and that muscle releases the hand. So it’s a bit like learning to drive a new car, but without all the tools to drive, because Matthew’s stumps are so short that there are limited options for ‘driving’ the prosthetics. He’s determined, though, so has been training himself to do what he can, and life is certainly more independent than it was to an extent. He can now feed himself to a limited degree. He can hold a beer can, and a dagwood dog. Most importantly, he can hold the kids’ hands. Excuse the sound, but here is are some videos of Matthew trying to eat an Easter egg. This first clip demonstrates some of the difficulties associated with short stumps, shoulder movement, and getting smaller objects to his mouth: