Meet the father printing his child's arm

Two-year-old Sol was named after a solar eclipse that was taking place as he was born.

But within hours of his arrival the celebrations were overshadowed for new parents Ben and Kate Ryan.

It was the news anyone would dread. Something was wrong. Sol needed emergency surgery.

He was whisked away from the north Wales maternity ward to Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

"I remember just thinking 'I must be dreaming - this is a nightmare'," recalled Sol's father.

"The consultant in Alder Hey was telling me that almost certainly Sol was going to have to lose his left hand."

At just 10 days old, surgeons made the devastating decision to amputate Sol's left arm just below the elbow because of a blood clot.

"It was a very, very black period of time. I couldn't quite believe what was happening," said Ben.

"I just went into emergency mode - I think everyone does. You just deal with it because you have to."

Weeks later, back at the family home in Menai Bridge on Anglesey, Ben was left reflecting on the words of the nurse telling them that Sol's blood group was B-Positive.

"I just took that as a sign - to be positive," said Ben.

"Stop thinking about what he can't do - what can we do? From that point on I just said that I'm not going to dwell on the negatives, I'm only going to be positive. I'm only going to think about what we can do."

And what could Ben do for his son?As a further education psychology lecturer by profession, Sol's father was absolutely convinced that early intervention was vital for his son to adapt to life without his arm and hand.

But he soon learnt health professionals would not offer help with prosthetic false arms until Sol was a year old - and even then, the artificial arms would be purely cosmetic with no grabbing or holding action.

Sol's dad did not want to wait a year.

"I just thought that wasn't good enough," stated Ben
.First, he used rolled-up pieces of foam taped to Sol's elbow to see what would happen.

Within minutes, Sol was banging his toys with his hand - and his foam arm. It was the first time he had tried to use the left arm since the amputation.

"Before that, the left arm didn't do anything."

It was the breakthrough moment for Ben. From there, developing a better prosthetic arm for young Sol became an obsession.

Working on the kitchen table with bits of copper pipe and plumbing fittings, Ben came up with an idea for a new design that would operate a hand using tiny movements of the elbow.