Caroline After Second Back Repair

"When I woke up in the hospital after the operation, I felt a tingling in my spine but I was able to sit up straight away. I couldn't wait to come home, so I thanked all the wonderful doctors and nurses and discharged myself, caught the next plane out, and here I am."

The back joint is difficult to repair, partly because the PVC tube backbone and its steel and aluminium joint is deep inside the silicone rubber. The skeleton has since been redesigned (twice, at July 2006) and production standards have improved.