An amputee who refuses to call his prosthetic leg a “disadvantage” is seeking public help to regain fuller function with a micro-chipped knee that imitates natural movement.

Owen Mallia suffered a broken pelvis, a torn urethra and his leg had to be amputated last December after a car accidentally hit him as he was changing his vehicle’s tyre with the assistance of a passer-by.

A few months later, the 21-year-old has to some extent managed to get back on his feet: a prosthetic one has allowed him to return to work and he appears to have adapted to the limitations of his mechanical limb. 

But he refutes those limitations: “You can never consider your prosthetic leg a disadvantage because this would only fuel regress.

“You need to focus on how you can improve your current situation,” he says determinedly.

How did Owen manage to accept his fate so fast?

I had a lifetime ahead of me and I only had one go at it

When he woke up in hospital, he recalled, he noticed there was a missing bump in the bed covers where his left toes should be. He did not think much of it, however, as he could still feel his leg.

The reality only hit him when he pulled back the covers and saw a bandaged stump where his leg should have been.

“The first thing I did was accept myself as I was. The way I saw it was that if I was suddenly functional to a fraction of what I had been in the past, I now had to live with that fraction,” he said.

Owen, 21, says setting personal targets has helped with his recovery.

“I had a lifetime ahead of me and I only had one go at it.”

He said the people around him, including his family, gave him purpose in life.

“I had to do something to give them courage and believe that the Owen they knew before was still there.”

It was not a smooth ride. The anger did eventually surface along with the pain, but this did not stop the young man from taking his first aided step on New Year’s Eve.

Setting personal targets helped him recover at a fast pace. He started walking with the help of crutches after a couple of months and four months later he could do so without any kind of support. 

“I tried to be brave for others but in doing so I helped myself regain my strength and get back on track. The support I had from my parents, girlfriend Samara, employer and staff at Karin Grech and Mater Dei hospitals formed part of my recovery.”

Owen is still very young and his dream is to live life as independently as he can.

This could be made possible with the help of a prosthetic microchip knee that imitates the natural movement of his right leg, allowing him a better range of movement and better quality of life.

However, this will cost him nearly €32,000 – the kind of money that no person his age has.

Owen’s dream has been endorsed by Puttinu Cares, who can be contacted on 9967 2790 or info@puttinucares.org for more information, while Mr Mallia can be contacted on 7980 7497.

Those who would like to contribute financially can do so on BOV account number 40024973144, quoting ‘Microchip prosthetic leg’.