Six-year old Braden McCay is at Jackson Preparatory School in Flowood, to be fitted for his new 3-D prosthetic hand.
"So, was it a surprise to you at all? Not really. (laughter) But when my mom told that, but when my mom told me it was," said Braden.
The first grader was born without his left hand. When he was a baby his parents didn't think he needed a prosthetic then. But as he grew they hunted for options. Children can out grow them quickly and they are expensive. The couple read about a 3-D machine that makes them and reached out to a prosthetic expert they had met. Rick Psonak found out Jackson Prep had the machine.
"So, I said hey listen, I know this is kind of wild but would you guys be interested in printing a hand for a little boy?" said Psonak.
Physics and Engineering teacher Marsha Hobbs said yes. Actually the 3-D machine uses plastics to build the hand.
"I never thought it would happen. I mean my first thought was, I won't be able to do this," said Hobbs.
Hobbs recruited Matthew Clay, an 18-year old senior who had worked with an orthodontist.
"You're making retainers you gotta manipulate and shape plastic a lot. She needed someone to cut out the pieces for the hand, polish them and just kinda get the fine details to make it work," said Clay.
Hobbs and Clay crafted an iron-man type hand. Braden won't be able to take it with him right now. Some adjustments have to be made.
" I was kinda happy that I got it today. But I really wanted to bring it home," said Braden.
Rick Psonak says more than 2,000 people contributed to the hand design through open-sourcing.
