Soldier left paralysed in accidental shooting walks again thanks to bionic suit
Bomb disposal expert Dale Messenger said: "The suit has changed my life. I just wasn’t prepared to accept the rest of my life in a wheelchair.”
A soldier left paralysed after an accidental shooting is back on his feet – thanks to a bionic motorised walking suit.
Dale Messenger feared he would never walk again after he was blasted in the hip during a live ammunition training exercise in the Falkland Islands.
But he is now striding out nearly a mile a day after winning a legal battle with the Ministry of Defence which meant he was awarded an exoskeleton ‘suit’ as part of a compensation claim.
Experts believe Dale’s settlement could open the door to dozens of claims by service personnel injured in conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan
The 36-year-old bomb disposal expert was facing life in a wheelchair before he discovered the exoskeleton.
Dale told the Sunday People : “The suit has changed my life. I wouldn’t be walking now without it.”
Dale was accidentally shot in 2009 by another soldier , with the bullet passing through his right hip and out of his left hip.
After two years he had failed to make any progress towards walking with crutches and other aids at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and the military rehab centre at Headley Court in Surrey.
Dale was eventually discharged that year. The following year, in 2012, he started using the suit after researching different exoskeletons on the internet.
The Royal Engineer, who specialised in neutralising and removing landmines, said: “I’d reached the end of the road. The military had done all they could for me. Some people just don’t progress to walking.
“But I was desperate to be able to walk again, I just wasn’t prepared to accept the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I had to find a way.”
Dale took his first steps in three years after an exoskeleton was loaned to him by manufacturers Ekso Bionics.
The user’s body weight triggers sensor to power motor units attached to the skeleton. A computer works out the speed of the motors and the length of the stride with a manual control override.
Dale, who has a three year-old daughter Lydia, said: “I was just determined to walk again. Some guys are happy and resigned to a wheelchair, but I wanted to get back some degree of independence.
“It was pure elation when I made those first steps in the exoskeleton. I wanted to be upright again to go for walks and to be normal again.
“Having a little one was a big driver. I want to be able to take her out. I might not be able to run, but we can walk down the road holding hands.”
After lots of hard work Dale can walk just under mile in the suit. For three years Dale could only use the exoskeleton at the rehab centre, but that changed in 2014.
The MoD agreed a legal settlement running to more than £1million plus a £500,000 clause so he could buy the £50,000 suit for himself and replace it when it needed renewing.
He now keeps the bionic suit at home in Gloucester and takes it to the gym several times a week where he uses it to walk.
And he has also travelled the globe demonstrating the skeleton on behalf of the manufacturers.
Lawyers say paralysis victims with the potential to walk are entitled to the best technology available which is why they believe more servicemen will get exoskeletons.
Ben Rogers, a solicitor at Stewarts Law, who helped Dale secure compensation, said: “It’s a first and may well lead to other servicemen paralysed by spinal injuries getting an exoskeleton as part of their compensation.”
Exoskeletons were primarily developed for military uses.
They were initially used to provide protection and give servicemen the ability to bear huge weights, in the field and in rescue operations to recover victims.
But as the device was developed experts investigated their potential benefits for spine injury victims.
Dale says he has experienced a health boost from getting up and walking.
Since his accident he had suffered from “appalling” neuropathic pain caused by his injury.
“I was on some very heavy duty drugs to control it that made me sleepy and moody,” he said.
“Now, since I started walking in the exoskeleton the pain has gone. Being able to get up out of my chair for several hours a day is a welcome relief.”
Professor Wagih El Masri of the Christchurch Group, one of the country’s leading spinal injury doctors said: “Dale has done incredibly well.
“Exoskeletons have done a lot to help those who are paralysed walk again and there are definite physical benefits from walking.”
Some exoskeletons have been developed that allow users to go outdoors and even climb stairs.
But Dale has chosen a suit that is lightweight and can be put on in a matter of minutes. It is designed more for rehabilitation and for getting round his home and at the gym.
Dale said: “Work is being done to develop them all the time. So I might eventually have one I can wear all day and take out shopping.
“But for now I’m just delighted to be up on my pegs for a couple of hours a day down at the gym.”
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