MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Prosthetics can make a huge difference in the quality of life for people born without a limb or people who've had one amputated. But making them for kids is particularly challenging. That's because kids grow so fast and outgrow them and because of the tiny movements needed for the hands to work. But now, 3D printing is improving kids' options. Joe Mario Pedersen, Central Florida Public Media Health reporter, tells us more.
JOE MARIO PEDERSEN, BYLINE: Eloise Bayliss is 12 years old. She plays soccer. She fishes and plays five instruments, and she does all of that and more with one hand.
ELOISE BAYLISS: I'm one of those outdoor kids. I'm not one of those who, like, stays inside all day long. I mean, I love playing Nerf guns with my friend next door, Caden. And I'll draw. I love playing video games, too.
PEDERSEN: Eloise does a lot of things. She was born with one hand. She's had a lot of prosthetic arms, too. Her mother, Elizabeth, says, 10 years ago, there weren't great options.
ELIZABETH: She needs a hand to do this, or she wants an attachment for her bike. And there were, like, adult-sized things or just people that really weren't - didn't know the skill of making pediatric prosthetics, right? And then they weren't functional. They didn't do anything.
PEDERSEN: The last three months, Eloise has been using what she says is the best prosthetic yet, a 3D-printed arm which allows her to lift 30 pounds and grips things tightly by twitching small muscles near her elbow. Those twitches activate sensors that manipulate the robotic fingers. Here, Eloise is explaining how she has a bit of fun with her friends by grabbing a hold of their hand.
ELOISE: Like, prank my friends so hard at school with it. Oh, I just do this...
(LAUGHTER)
ELOISE: ...And they cannot get out no matter what they do.
PEDERSEN: One could argue the reason she can prank her friends is because Albert Manero was driving his car and listening to an NPR story about the difficulties of child prosthetics 10 years ago.
ALBERT MANERO: Used to be, they could be too heavy, too expensive. They need to really grow with the child.
PEDERSEN: Manero was an engineering student in Central Florida at the time. The story inspired him to make one of the first 3D-printed arms for a child with the help of 14 fellow students. Now, he's the president of a nonprofit, Limbitless Solutions. They donate arms to kids who need them.
MANERO: In the United States, for children, it's particularly difficult to get access to prosthetics for a number of reasons.
PEDERSEN: For one, most health insurers don't cover child prosthetics. They're often deemed not medically necessary, and the mechanical ones used to be really expensive.
DAN FERRIS: 3D printing answers that issue.
PEDERSEN: University of Florida Engineering Professor Dan Ferris says Manero's invention makes it cheaper.
FERRIS: You can just quickly and easily replace parts to change the size without having to totally redesign the whole package.
PEDERSEN: In Eloise Bayliss' case, she's sporting a 3D arm with a Disney Princess Moana design that cost the family about 20 grand, but it will be easier and cheaper to update and replace parts as she grows.
ELOISE: Are you serious? This is so cool.
PEDERSEN: She's still getting used to her new arm and fully using two hands. She's had some trial-and-error success at riding a bike.
ELOISE: I got so nervous 'cause I couldn't feel it. Like where...
ELIZABETH: But you did great.
ELOISE: ...It was, and was I going to fall over like 10 times or crash into a mailbox again.
PEDERSEN: The one hobby she hasn't tried her new hand at yet is video games, which she mastered with just one.
ELOISE: I mean, I'm going to be really nervous actually trying it like this 'cause how do you even play a game with two hands?
PEDERSEN: While she figures that out, prosthetic arm engineers are expecting even more developments in the next 10 years that will make them cheaper and even more useful.
For NPR News, I'm Joe Mario Pedersen in Orlando.
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