Dancer paralysed from waist down after brain tumour can walk again with robotic exoskeleton
Video report by ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar
A dancer, who was paralysed from the waist down after a brain tumour, has been able to walk again thanks to a robotic exoskeleton.
Simon Kindleysides, from Norfolk, trained as a dancer, but lost the use of his legs after a brain tumour in 2013.
But with the use of a borrowed robotic suit, he completed the London Marathon in 2018. It took nearly 37 hours but he set a world record.
Since then, an anonymous benefactor has bought him an suit and the 36-year-old father of three is walking more than 100 miles in February to raise money for his local hospital, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
Asked how much the robotic suit has changed his life, he replied: "More than words can say."
He added he has been endearingly called "RoboCop" and "Terminator".
On his fundraiser for his local hospital, he told ITV News: "I could stay in bed and feel sorry for myself and do nothing else. The NHS saved my life loads of times so I want to be able to give something else.
"Because the tumour is stable at the moment, and with my health problems, I don't know how long I have left, looking at it in the worst case scenario. So that's what keeps me going of wanting to achieve dreams and break records."
The stroke and seizures Simon has also suffered mean he is reliant on his hospital.
Professor Erika Denton, from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, said: "I don't think many of us can fully appreciate what it must be like to be have been able-bodied and now to be using the technology he has to be able to walk.
"Now to be raising funds for us, is really heartwarming. (sic)"