Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Cool Prostetic


I worked for a guy one summer during University. He ran a business that provided parts to oilfields. I drove long ways to deliver parts on a 'route' all week. One weekend he invited a bunch of us over to his house for a BBQ. It was there that I met his five year old daughter.

She was born without her left hand and forearm but had a very cool bio mechanical arm that responded to sensors placed in the nerves near her elbow. With a subtle muscle flex she could open and close the hand. Her dad loved having her crush beer cans with the hand when the cans were empty and she loved the attention.

I was talking to her mom and the little girl came up to us. I was telling her that I thought her hand was the coolest thing ever and suddenly she bolts from the room. Oh no, I thought. I just made a 5 year old cry. Way to go, Cal.

Suddenly she runs back into the room with this metal briefcase. The opened it up to show me all her attachments. The spoon, knife and fork that could be inserted when the hand was popped off, the pen holder, the throwing 'hook' for sports ect. It was amazing. I told her then that she was not only cool but she was a superhero like 'Inspector Gadget'. "Go Go Gadget Hand" was her reply.

So when I see this flipper attachment I think of her. No doubt it's already in her 'Iron Girl' briefcase along with the arm sized 'Swiss Army Knife' attachment. She would totally be into using the flipper when she swam across the Atlantic. It was a no-brainer that she would challenge her perceived limitations with a attempt
like that.

http://www.neatorama.com/

5 comments:

Pat Tillett said...

Great story Cal...
Amazing! I'm glad the girl was able to deal with it in a good way.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

Well that all goes back to good parents who chose to make her feel special and not different.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

Yeah, that's a cool story. It's great that she can feel important vs embarrassed.
xoRobyn

Tempo said...

great story, makes you think eh!

Wings1295 said...

Cool stuff! Glad she was so happy with her attatchments!