Being born with Poland Syndrome left Hailey with a flat pectoral muscle and deformities in her fingers that prevent her from doing things most of us take for granted, like holding a baseball. After hearing about the Robohand and how 3D printers were creating low cost prosthetics, Hailey’s mother Yong Dawson took a chance and contacted a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) to see if he could help. As UNLV’s chair of medical engineering, Brendan O’Toole was more than happy to take on the challenge.
After almost two years of development, O’Toole and his team are still perfecting the device and hope to develop a way for her to move each finger independently. Obviously everyone at UNLV will eventually benefit from this research, just like Hailey has, but seeing her effortlessly tossing a baseball with her prosthetic must have been a great experience for its designers. Although last March the team watched her throw out a ball for a UNLV baseball game, this is the first time they would have seen this version in action.
“What do you do when John Angelos, exec VP of the Baltimore Orioles, calls you and wants to talk about your daughter? You kind of scream internally and have a 30 minute discussion while the whole time you’re thinking OMG is this for real? He tells you he’s coming up with some ideas and wants to have further discussions. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would ever happen. I get to see dreams come true for the 3 most important people in my life.” Dawson said on Instagram after finding out that Hailey would be throwing out the first pitch.
Take a look at some Orioles footage of Hailey throwing out the first pitch with her brother:
Dawson may not have ever expected the Orioles to give her daughter the honor of throwing out the first pitch, but Hailey doesn’t even seem phased by it. In fact, she seems to almost be thinking ‘of course, why wouldn’t they ask me to throw out the first pitch’. And more importantly, her appearance at a major league baseball game is giving further exposure to the possibilities of 3D printing and low cost prosthetic devices.
You can find out more about the Robohand 3D printable hand prostheses on their website where you can download the 3D files to print your own, or just discover ways to chip in. Let us know what you think of this story over on our Five Year Old With 3D Printed Hand Throws the First Pitch forum at 3DPB.com.