The Moment a Six-Year-Old Boy is Given a 3D Printed Hand After Losing His Fingers in a Horrific Traffic Accident

The Moment a Six-Year-Old Boy is Given a 3D Printed Hand After Losing His Fingers in a Horrific Traffic Accident

Losing a limb can be devastating for anyone, but especially so for a child. But one young boy in China just got a new lease on life after he was given a 3D printed hand to replace the fingers he had lost in an accident.

printed hand

In a country where a medical bill is often more deadly than sickness itself, technology is bringing a change to the less fortunate families. The 3D hand costs a hundred times less than a typical prosthetic limb.

The youngster, known as Xiao Cheng, was thrilled to use his robotic hand for the first time last Thursday after a hospital gave it to him as a gift for the Children’s Day, reported People’s Daily Online.

Cheng was forced to go through a hand amputation after he was hit by a car two years ago. And after the operation, the boy lost nearly all function of his left hand.

Cheng’s family live in rural Henan Province and is not able to buy him an artificial limb.

Both his parents have moved to big cities to find work, and his elderly grandma still farms every day in order to support themselves.

Luckily, a hospital in Wuhan, a city of eight million and 130 miles away from Cheng’s village, got to know the boy’s tragic story and decided to help.

Doctors at the Wuhan Union Hospital used 3D printing to make a robotic hand for the young patient for free. Production took just seven hours to complete.

The precious gift was given to Cheng just before Children’s Day, which is celebrated on June 1 every year in China.

Overjoyed with his new limb, Cheng called it his ‘Transformers’ hand’ after the action film.

He immediately tried it out and couldn’t stop smiling as he tried to grab small objects such as a water bottle or a grape.

An average prosthetic limb costs around 100,000 Yuan (£10,500) in China, which is twice the annual salary for an average worker.

In comparison, a 3D printed counterpart costs no more than 1,000 Yuan (£105).

The hospital says they will replace the limb for Cheng regularly until he reaches adulthood.

It’s amazing that medical technology has advanced so much that families who can’t afford a prosthetic limb have more affordable alternatives, and such cool ones, too! Not many kids get to have “Transformer hands”, as Cheng calls it. He’s one lucky kid!

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!