Olympic glory moved a step closer for a Dundee double amputee this week when his modified legs arrived in the mail.
Delighted Ronnie McIntosh took delivery of the £10,000 artificial limbs that have been made especially for him to run round his home city carrying the Olympic torch on June 12.
The 62-year-old said: ”It was absolutely brilliant when I saw woman come to the door with the package. I told her ‘that’s my new legs you’ve got!”’
He continued: ”I’ve been instructed that I need to get used to them and wear them just for an hour on day one, then gradually build up more and more time over the week.
”But I won’t be able to hold myself back they are absolutely fantastic.”
Ronnie has taken to his new running short blade limbs with remarkable ease. Made with carbon fibre, the state-of the art technology weighs slightly less than his existing artificial legs but more importantly will allow Ronnie to progress from racewalking to light running.
Trying them on for the first time the keen sportsman said they felt wonderful.
”I have got so much confidence with them already,” he said. ”When I was being fitted for them in Bradford they were cutting into the stump of my leg. It was very uncomfortable and I couldn’t walk far. But now they feel great and I just can’t wait to get out on them.”
The Dundee-man faced an uphill battle when it came to raising the thousands of pounds needed to buy the bespoke limbs he could not get through the NHS. However, friends and supporters rallied together and managed to get more than £10,000 in the space of just four months.
In fact with over £3,000 alone raised from a race night, Ronnie quickly surpassed his target with the surplus donated to the Tayside Kidney Patients Association and REVIVAL.
The local charities are close to Ronnie’s heart after he underwent a double amputation below the knee because of kidney failure in 2008. He also underwent a kidney transplant due to his dialysis treatment failing after six years.
The immediate devastation Ronnie endured after the amputation remains a vivid memory.
”I was very low and depressed,” he said. ”It was when I looked down at my legs for the first time in hospital and saw there was nothing from the knee down. For someone who was a runner that was hard to take.
”There was a period afterwards when I was just very depressed and I realised I needed to snap out of it.”
With a desire to do just that Ronnie turned to his beloved running to spur him on. He began speedwalking with the aid of artificial limbs and now proudly boasts being able to walk a mile in 15 minutes.
He is now looking forward to the arrival of the Olympic torch in Dundee.
”I was picked as one of the 19 torch bearers,” he said. ”We are still waiting to find out what stretch we will run.
”It will only be around 300 metres, which is nothing really. But that doesn’t matter it’s about the prestige of the occasion.”