Nov 15, 2009 01:00 PM
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What better way to, um, end the This Cyborg Life theme week than a post about a British guy with a bionic ass?
Meet Ged Galvin, a 55-year-old chap from Barnsley, south Yorkshire, who is currently in possession of a very special remote control. A remote control that, when engaged, controls Galvin's bowels and allows him to go to the bathroom with dignity. Dignity that was, sadly, robbed from him in the wake of a horrific motorcycle accident that nearly killed him.
At first, the operation that saved his life left him unable to control his bowels. That meant a colostomy bag and all the inconvenience and potential embarrassment that comes with such an arrangement. But then in stepped more doctors. They had a plan. They could rebuild him, make his sphincter stronger. And that's exactly what they did.
Using muscle from Galvin's knee, the doctors wrapped his sphincter muscle and attached a number of electrodes to the muscle nerves. Enter the remote control, which Galvin compares to a chubby cellphone, and bowel function was restored. It's as easy as an on/off switch, he said in an interview with the Telegraph, "just like switching on the TV."
Britain is calling him the man with the bionic bottom, and he's just fine with that. After all, he could be dead. This is better, and while he's not as beautiful as guest editor Aimee Mullins, he's a great fit for This Cyborg Life, and I wish him well. [Telegraph via Geekologie]
Send an email to Jack Loftus, the author of this post, at jloftus@gizmodo.com.
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