Back  |  Email to a Friend  |  Print  |   Send in Your Comment

'Born without arms- but i can fly a plane solo'

When jessica cox was born without arms, doctors warned her heartbroken parents she’d never lead a normal life.

Yet today, despite refusing to wear prosthetic limbs, Jessica, 28, has gone on to achieve more than most people ever would – even becoming the only licensed pilot in the world to fly a plane solely with her feet.

And, impressively, Jessica’s dexterous size six feet also mean she can text her friends with her toes, play the piano and brush her hair.

Speaking from Arizona, US, where she lives with her fiancé Patrick, 27, Jessica reveals how challenging her life has been.

“Growing up, I always felt like I was living in an alternate universe where everything that comes naturally to most people was extremely difficult,” she says. “But since embracing my uniqueness, I’ve realised my life may not be ‘ordinary’– but it is extraordinary.”

When Jessica was born in 1983, doctors were unable to explain why her disability hadn’t been picked up on an ultrasound. Sadly, a consultant told her shocked mum Inez, 61, and musician dad Bill, 70, she would always be physically dependent on them.  

“For a long time Mum blamed herself and thought she’d done something wrong during her pregnancy,” says Jessica, who has a brother, Jason, 30.

But Jessica soon started to prove doctors wrong. Instead of crawling, she scooted around on her bottom at five months old, and by the time she was 18 months old she’d built up her core muscles enough to stand and walk, despite having no arms to pull herself up with.  

“I developed normally, I just didn’t have arms to hoist myself up with,” she explains.

Jessica continued to astound her parents with her development, and by the age of three she was going to gymnastics classes.

Yet, despite her achievements, she admits she got frustrated by her disability.

“I knew I was different,” she says. “It made me feel really isolated not being able to do things independently, like tie my own shoes or brush my hair.

“Sometimes, at Girl Scouts, there’d be an activity like volleyball that I couldn’t take part in, but my friends would try to involve me. They’d hold on to my sleeves rather than my hands so I could play with them.”

Incredibly, Jessica says she learnt to be proud of who she was aged just four, when she asked her teacher if she could be in the back row of her first dance recital.   

“I didn’t want people staring or laughing at me,” Jessica says. “But my instructor said: ‘Jessica, there is no back row, you’re going to be right up front with the other girls.’ That lesson has stuck with me my whole life.”

Jessica continued to push her boundaries, learning how to use her feet to feed herself, wash and brush her hair and write.

But despite her progress, she struggled to fit in at school, especially when she was fitted with prosthetic arms in 1987.

“I was teased for not having arms, but when I did get them it just got worse,” recalls Jessica. “They were really mechanical-looking. Kids would call me Captain Hook.”

Despite admitting the prosthetics made life easier, Jessica says she hated them as they “I trained my feet and toes to do the work of hands and fingers,” she says. 

For years Jessica persevered with her prosthetic arms and covered up in long-sleeved tops, but, aged 15, she finally felt brave enough to go out without her arms – and ditched them for good.

“When I arrived at school on the first day of a new term without my arms, some kids accepted me right away, while others would put their arms in their T-shirts and try to imitate me, but I had friends who stuck up for me. Walking into school that day was the most liberating experience I’ve ever had and I promised myself I’d never look back.

“Sometimes people would go to shake my hand if I was wearing long sleeves, but I’d just laugh it off,” she remembers.

Amazingly, Jessica has since earned a black belt in karate, started swimming competitively against able-bodied teenagers, mastered surfing and learned to drive.

In 2005, she started taking flying lessons  with a fighter pilot – paid for by a scholarship fund – and, over time, he allowed her to take over the controls of the light sports plane, leading to her becoming a licensed pilot. On her first solo flight in May 2008 she wore a T-shirt reading, “Look Mum, no hands!”

“Some people are scared to fly with me because they don’t understand how I’m able to handle a plane using only my feet, but they eventually get used it,” says Jessica, who now funds her hobbies with money she makes from her job as motivational speaker.

Despite having dated in the past, Jessica admits she never thought she’d meet someone who’d see beyond her disability.

She reveals: “I always knew I was different from other girls, but that never kept me from feeling pretty – yet some guys are superficial and only see what’s on the outside.”

But all that changed in May 2010, when she met her fiancé Patrick Chamberlain, who was a new instructor at her karate school.

“Patrick didn’t see me as the sad girl with no arms nor did he see me as the cool girl who could do weird things with her feet. He just saw me as Jessica, which is why I fell in love with him,” she says.

The couple got engaged in May and are planning to get married next summer. Jessica – who wears a diamond engagement anklet instead of a ring – and Patrick are now planning their future, including children.

“I’ve babysat before, so I can change nappies with my feet,” she says. “My only concern is being able to hold my child, but I’d have a baby sling to hold it to my chest.”

Revealing she can open beer bottles with her toes more easily than Patrick can with his hands – and that the only thing she hasn’t mastered is chopsticks – Jessica adds: “So many people let fear get in the way of living life, but I’m proof that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.”

By Ashley Van Sipma