He's a Watertown man whose life was turned upside down after he was suddenly struck by infections. They ended up taking both his legs. But as our Brian Dwyer reports, science and technology are giving Jim Henry a second chance to do something he thought he'd never be able to do again.

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Walking is something Henry, just like most people, took for granted. But a few years back, a serious infection took his lower left leg. Then just a little more than a year ago, another infection claimed his right leg.

"There are tough times," Henry said. "I live in Watertown and there's a thing called snow and ice. I don't do snow and ice very well. I have to be very conscious of what I'm doing. Any amputee has to be."

But Henry is getting a second chance. He's one of only a dozen or so in upstate New York testing the Proprio foot by Ossur. It's the first of its kind on the market.

"Essentially, it's a computerized ankle system that is able to adjust to the variant terrains that amputees experience every day," Roger Howard, Director of Howard Orthotics and Prosthetics in Watertown said.

"You can really sense it," Henry said. "I can feel it. The first day I had one on I said, 'where do I sign up?' This is important for me. It makes me more comfortable to have what I have."

Henry and Howard say the highlight of the ankle is when he's either walking uphill or downhill. Instead of having that flat foot most amputees have, the toes of this foot actually move up like real toes.

"From a safety standpoint, you go from having maybe a third of your foot in contact with the ground, to now the whole foot is in contact with the ground, which makes him that much more safer," Howard said.

"I can walk just like anybody else. My ankles do their job. It's all I can ask," Henry said.

Henry says there are a few adjustments he'd make to the ankle, but they're mostly just how it feels when he makes certain moves.

Howard says the growing number of men and women coming home from the war overseas as amputees has allowed this kind of technology to be created much faster than it would have otherwise.