Finding a prosthetic hand for Jerlena Rittwage was a project six months in the making, and if you asked the 12-year-old back then, she would have told you it wasn't possible.
Finding a prosthetic hand for Jerlena Rittwage was a project six months in the making, and if you asked the 12-year-old back then, she would have told you it wasn't possible.
Prosthetic hands can cost between $15,000 and $50,000, especially ones custom built right down to colour preference - in Rittwage's case purple. They are also typically heavy for children.
But after months of brainstorming and trial and error, two Cochrane High School Grade 11 students, Jonas Prudden and Levi Schmitke, with the help of their teacher Landon Thompson, broke through those barriers, crafting a device similar to a myoelectric prosthetic hand for Rittwage using the school's 3D printer. The total cost was only $50 and the school covered it.
On Jan. 17, they gifted it to Jerlena, which fittingly landed a week before her birthday.
“I got the phone call and I thought, ‘Oh my God, they did it that fast,' ” Jerlena said. “It made me feel very, very happy. I was so surprised and it looked amazing. It was just perfectly made. ”
Jerlena was born with a left hand that never quite developed and has prevented her from being able to grasp any objects. Her new hand changed that.
“You can squish things, you can hold things, you can hug people, high five them, ” Jerlena said.
The project began months ago when Jerry Rittwage, Jerlena's grandfather, came across an online community - www.enablingthefuture.org - that posts tutorials and resources on how to create 3D printed hands and arms. Knowing Cochrane High had a 3D printer on site, he reached out.
At the time, however, Thompson said all the school had done so far with the printer is create desk trinkets and coffee mugs.
“We weren't even close to thinking about something this complex. We just kind of thought about it over the summer and kind of shelved it, ” Thompson said.
But the following fall, Prudden and Schmitke coincidently approached Thompson with an ambitious project in mind - printing a prosthetic.
Thompson was floored there were students interested in a project of this scope and rushed them to the principal's office - barging in on a meeting he was having.
“You have to hear what they just said to me,' ” Thompson recalled saying.
A meeting was scheduled with Jerry, measurements were taken of Jerlena's left arm and over the next few months the boys, with the help of Thompson, began printing prototypes and then finally, the hand itself.
Their next task was assembly, which required a kit filled with strings, wires, screws and other materials and had to be ordered online from Enabling the Future's website, where they got the instructional resources for the hand.
“It took a while to put together, ” Prudden explained, adding that they had to print multiple iterations of the hand at various scale sizes. “Overall, it was about 20 hours (of printing). Basically you go online, download the files, put them in the program and then it just prints them. ”
The next step was to assemble the hand, which they spent six hours on one evening.
Both Prudden and Schmitke said the process was relatively smooth, and more of a matter of finding the time to complete it.
Last week, when Jerlena received the hand, their biggest fear was that it wouldn't fit. However, she slipped it on smoothly, and within seconds was already operating it - bending her wrist to make the fingers close.
“It was hard work paying off, ” Schmitke said.
“It was a pretty fantastic moment, it was great. She was so happy and it all came together really well, ” Prudden said.
Beyond the sense of pride Thompson felt for his students' accomplishment, he was also pleased with the numerous connections made.
“They put in all the leg work, they did all the research. They made this girl's dream come true, ” Thompson said.
Though Jerlena is easily operating the hand, she only wears it every other day for now until her wrist muscles can keep up.
“I was just so happy I was like ‘I can pick something up with this' as all the other ones all I can do is slap it, ” she said.
Jerlena will be attending Cochrane High School in a few years, and looks forward to making her own or helping others who need a prosthesis make one (though she will likely need a new one sooner than that).
