Michigan Amputee Gets Fitted with iWalk Bionic Limb

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) - In 1999, a Hartland Township firefighter fell and broke his leg in a way that doctors couldn't fix it. Countless surgeries and sleepless nights led him to a difficult decision that would forever change his life, and now it's changing again.

"I got the amputation in July of 2003 and started to get my life back little by little," said Dave Dunville.

With a remarkable spirit, for nearly ten years he has lived as an amputee.

"I'm able bodied. It's just I do it a little differently than everybody else," he explained.

However, life as Dunville knows it is changing again. He is one of two people in the State of Michigan getting fitted with what's being called a bionic prosthesis, the iWalk.

"It is a bit heavier than your average prosthetic leg," said Dunville.

A typical prosthesis works with a stiff system of springs, which means just walking can be exhausting and next to impossible, but robotics in the iWalk act like tendons and muscles in your foot and ankle.

"It's taking the same energy for him to cover that distance at that same speed as if he didn't have the amputation, and that's probably the main advantage of this technology," said Les Wontorcik, C.P. with U of M Health System.

At his final fitting, Dunville was overwhelmed as the foot was powered up with a smart phone.

"The feeling was, it was 12 years ago," he said.

It's modern day science and technology that is taking him back in time.

"I'm back to normal. I'm back to whole. When it's all said and done, I'm going to feel like I have a leg again," Dunville said.

Wartime is when we see the biggest advances in prosthetic limbs. Developed by an MIT professor, who is also an amputee, this bionic lower limb was originally used only on wounded soldiers, but now is available to everyone at about a dozen prosthetic providers across the country.