Retired local priest recieves world’s first bionic ankle foot

“Before I had to walk on my toes, the old foot was stable, very stiff, there was no movement to it.” Retired local Priest Patrick Tierney said.

The 76-year-old lost his leg back in 2003 in a car accident and now is the first in the world to recieve a new waterproof bionic ankle foot that will give him a 30-degree range of motion.

“Adaption on it two weeks ago, it’s been the best thing that’s happened to me in the 13-years that I have a prosthetic.” Tierney added.

“Able to walk much better over incline and stairs as a result of this technology. Has a micro-processor in it which 50-times a second analyzes the gate over the terrain that he is walking on and and constantly adjusts to the terrain that he is encountering.” Lee Cardon of Hanger Clinic said.

Tierney is now a spirtiual counselor at the Betty Ford Center for those with drug and alcohol addictions. He enjoys working out 5-days a week and now has a dream of rafting down the Grand Canyon

“I felt so comfortable as soon as I started walking on it, I am not giving it back. I like it so much, I am keeping this thing. I feel so comfortable, all the cardio activity I do is just so much easier with this prosthetic.”

Technology continues to the change the world we live in, and now will help change the lives of an estimated 2-million amputees across the country.

“Blue tooth technology which we can sink with a smartphone so the user can adjust the foot to his liking. He can make the foot a little stiffer, or softer, and change the characteristic of the toe, he can continually do that using a smart phone.” Cardon added.

The priest was the first, but the new bionic ankle foot is now available to all and will help change a life one amputee at a time.