A bionic arm

A 35-year-old mother who lost the use of her arm in a car crash over a decade ago is seeking to have it cut off and replaced by a prostheses.

Nicola Wilding met Austrian surgeon Oskar Aszmann earlier this month in the hope he can help with her "excruciating pain" after she saw the surgeon featured on an episode of the BBC's Newsnight programme.

In the documentary, Aszmann performed surgery on a 26-year-old Austian man who had chosen to have his hand amputated and replaced with a bionic one.

On Monday morning Wilding told the BBC that as a "practical person" she would not miss her hand: "It's a pain, it's useless, it can't do anything.

"I'm quite a practical person. It gets in the way, I've sat on it, I've burnt it, I've nearly shut it in the door. As much care as you try to take it's quite difficult. I wouldn't miss it, no," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"All I can do is bend my elbow but with some effort. From the elbow downwards there's no movement or feeling."

But the surgeon told the BBC that the decision was still a risky one. "Once the extremity is gone it's gone, you cannot put it back on again," he said.

This May will mark 13 years since Wilding last had feeling in her hand, and she hopes she could be selected for an amputation and to have her hand replaced by a bionic one.

"I'm never one to listen or give up, basically," she said.

Listen to her interview below