When his parents' insurance company
refused to help cover a prosthetic arm, six year-old Alex Pring got a
little help from a 3-D printer and some engineering students at the
University of Central Florida.
Alex was born without a full right arm,
but his parents, Alyson and Steven Pring, note that he has been able
to cope extremely well and they are often amazed by all the things he
can do. With a prosthetic arm and hand, they knew he could do much
more. Alex had his own reasons for wanting the prosthetic.
“I wanted an arm so people would stop calling my arm names,” he said. “It hurts all my feelings. Everyone is born different. Everyone is special for what they do.”
Unfortunately, the high cost of prosthetics—around
$40,000—seemed to put a new arm out of the picture.
Still, they persisted, wanting to do
all they could for their son. The Prings tried to build Alex an arm
with a kit they bought online, but they were frustrated by
ineffectiveness of the toylike device. Alyson decided to reach out to
other sources and was connected with Albert Manero of the University
of Central Florida through an online volunteer organization called
e-NABLE.
Manero headed the team of engineering
students who created a cost-effective, functional prosthetic arm for
Alex. Alex's arm took eight weeks to create and cost under $350 in
materials. The arm's design was created by 21 year-old Mateo Alvarez,
who explains that Alex is able to grasp objects by flexing his arm
muscle. What struck Alyson Pring even more, however, was the feeling
of receiving a two-armed hug from her son for the first time.
The benefits of the 3-D printed arm
don't stop there. Part of the reason insurance companies are reticent
to pay for prosthetics for kids is that they grow out of them quickly
and therefore have to get new ones often. But as Alex grows, the cost
of materials for an updated version of his arm will be around $20.
And! The University of Central Florida team put the blueprints for
the prosthetic online so others can access it and make their own.
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