Into weightlessness with a prosthesis

After a motorbike accident, John McFall had his right leg amputated above the knee at the age of 19. Since then, the Briton has demonstrated what is possible with modern assistive technology. He is regarded as one of the fastest men in the world over 100 metres and 200 metres in the transfemoral amputee class. He is a specialist in traumatology and orthopaedics. In November 2022 he was selected as an Astronaut Reserve by the European Space Agency (ESA), and hopes to become the first person with a physical disability to fly into space. John McFall will be speaking about his "Mission Possible" at the opening of OTWorld 2024 on 14 May 2024 at 4:45 pm.

Into top-class sport after amputation

After his accident and amputation in 2000, John not only learnt to move with a prosthesis, but also began running again. His prosthesis was not initially designed for this purpose and was frequently damaged. However, in 2003 he had a sprint prosthesis made that would allow him to train and compete on the athletics track at the highest level. At his first international competition, the European Championships of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2005 in Finland, he won a bronze medal in the 200-metres. Following this he was recruited to the United Kingdom’s World Class Podium Program, enabling him to become a full-time athlete. John went on to win numerous medals including silver in the 100m at the Bayer International Athletics Competition in Leverkusen in 2006 with a personal best time of 12.70 seconds. He also won world titles in 2007 at the World Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation in the 100 metres and 200 metres. In 2008, he competed for Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing taking home bronze in 100 metres.

John McFall also got off to a flying start professionally: after completing Bachelors and Masters degrees in sport and exercise science, he went on to study medicine. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as a Foundation Doctor in the British National Health Service in various medical and surgical specialties in South East Wales. He then completed Core Surgical Training in general surgery, urology, traumatology and orthopaedics until 2018. In 2018, he secured a place on the UK National Trauma and Orthopaedic Specialist Training Programme and in April 2023 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS), paving the way to becoming a Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon.

Next goal: a long-term mission on the ISS

John proved in 2008 that he is one for extraordinary journeys and that there are hardly any limits to what he can achieve with his prosthesis. When asked about his next goals, he said he wanted to cross the Sahara during the Marathon des Sables, traverse the Atlantic in a rowing boat and obtain a free fall parachute licence. More recently, space flight has entered John's ambitious to-do list, when, in November 2022, he was selected as a member of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve 2 to undertake an ESA led feasibility study named "Fly!". With Fly!, ESA wants to understand and overcome obstacles for astronauts with physical limitations in space travel. The aim of this study is to rely on John's varied expertise to explore possibilities for including persons with physical disabilities (specifically, a lower limb amputation) as fully integrated members of an astronaut crew during a long duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). With the tender, ESA has recognised that there could be people who are mentally and physically qualified for journeying to space, but who would not pass the medical selection because of their disability. For human space exploration, John’s unique background coupled with ESA‘s Fly! Feasibility Study breathes new life into efforts to overcome the barriers for aspiring astronauts with physical disabilities.

Extraordinary stresses for man and prosthesis

John is now facing completely new challenges: survival training on the Baltic Sea; trying on a spacesuit; ingress and egress a space capsule; centrifuge training and parabolic flights. Through John, and together with the manufacturer Ottobock, ESA is currently subjecting the prosthetic technologies to intensive tests. When asked in a ZEIT interview whether his handicap may not actually be an advantage in space, John replied: "Everyone is disabled in space. Everyone has to get to grips with this environment first."

When asked about his motorbike accident, John also says that "in some ways it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It gave me a focus, a drive, every day is a new challenge. ... I always had a list of goals and aspirations that didn't change after my accident - they just changed direction. Losing my leg has changed my life, but it hasn't changed who I am."

Experts from the fields of medicine, orthopaedic technology and physiotherapy as well as manufacturers will be demonstrating how people like John McFall can be cared for worldwide after amputation in the future at the OTWorld world congress and international trade fair in Leipzig from 14 to 17 May 2024.

John McFall will be available for press enquiries at OTWorld on 13 and 14 May 2024.

Amputations, arm and leg prostheses - facts and figures

A total of almost 73,000 amputations were billed in hospitals in Germany in 2022 via the DRG remuneration system, which regulates remuneration in the statutory health insurance (SHI) system according to diagnosis-related flat rates per case. Of these, almost 51,000 were foot disarticulations, a good 16,000 were lower limb amputations, around 5,100 were hand amputations and 237 were upper limb disarticulations. People who have undergone amputations are usually fitted with customised prostheses. According to the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband), the statutory health insurance funds paid for almost 1,700 arm prostheses and around 63,000 leg prostheses in 2022.

Find out more about John McFall and his mission here in the video.