e-NABLE e-NABLE Presentations/Interviews, 21 May 2015

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From YouTube: bbc radio wales interview

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For more information visit: http://www.murraycs.co.uk/e-nableblog/

A

Now, a month ago, stephen davis was resigned to life without a practical prosthetic hand. He's from claddagh swansea was born without a left hand, but had never been happy with the replacements he'd been offered, but in a whirlwind four weeks not only is steven now using a new plastic hand, he's also started producing hands for other people. This is a remarkable story: jason phelps, when you meet him.

B

His children call it the transformer hand. Just like the science fiction toys. It's even got a transformers logo on it.

B

But stephen davis's prosthetic hand is definitely science fact. It's light plastic made up of red black and blue sections.

C

Yeah, well, it's a it's a mechanical hand. It's 3d printed made out of plastic. It's operated by just flexing the wrist and just at the flex of the wrist it causes the fingers to all closed. um The fingers are then adjustable with screws so that you can alter their their position to grip better.

B

Although happy with the hand he has now, this hasn't always been the case for stephen well,.

C

I was born with one hand and uh as a child, people noticed this difference, but my father and my mother worked hard to uh get me help when I was young and I received a dummy hand which hasn't got much use but looks um relatively like a normal hand. As I grew up and started coming into the teenage years, they start being noticed by other people and uh it becomes uncomfortable.

C

So it's easier to to stop using them and and hide away put your arm in your pocket. So people don't notice, so you don't get you don't stand out in a crowd.

B

So is that what you started doing you started hiding your arm away.

C

Yeah I I started putting it away um up until about six years ago, when I found that when we moved into a new house, I needed some help when we had the garden for the first time, and I needed some help with the doing the lawn and cutting the hedges. And I also wanted to ride the bike.

C

And that's when I went to the nhs for help.

B

So stephen, we got that prosthetic here in front of us. It looks like a piece of plastic with a metal claw. I think that's fair to be said, and you weren't happy with this. No.

C

It's it's. It's very uh torture chamber like it's. It doesn't look good at all. It's nothing! I don't think anyone would be proud to walk down the street wearing.

B

So stephen, how have we gone then from getting that metal claw from the health service to where you are now.

C

Well uh about a month ago, I was just browsing the internet, looking at uh artificial lands, and I came across a picture of a hand that just looked fantastic.

C

I found it was made by enable- and they came back to me saying that we're a volunteer community and all hands are free and they paired me up with with a man called drew murray up in milton keynes, who, who built me the hand and sent it to me in the post.

B

And stephen, not only are you, you know a customer or a patient, you now want to try and help others yourself. I I.

C

Was I was so amazed by it? I I I just had to get involved, so I thought, how can I do this, so I decided to try and raise the funds to buy my own 3d printer so that I can help others.

B

So stephen we've got the 3d printer here. It basically looks like a big black box. So tell me exactly how it works. You know, how do you create a working prosthetic hand from this 3d printer.

C

Well, the enable community I've got the the 3d uh blueprints. If you will you then download those files onto a card put them into the 3d printer and it would print it layer by layer using melted, extruded, plastic.

B

So rihann you're stephen's wife. What do you make of the project he's embarked on.

D

I'm just very pleased for him, I'm very proud, because I know how much it means to him and how much he has struggled on and off throughout his life um and it's given him even simple things like holding a newspaper uh which he couldn't do before um holding a pen and yeah, and I see things like that and um you know it makes me uh quite emotional, because I know that those are things that perhaps he's wanted to do like read the newspaper never been able to so yeah. It's all good.

B

So connor, what do you think about your dad's new hand? It's cool! uh What do you think about the idea that he's gonna help other people and build hands for other people, and particularly children.

D

uh And probably decided to do it, especially for children.

B

And charlie, what did you think when you saw your dad's new hand for the first time I.

D

Thought it was awesome.

B

What do you think it looks like.

D

It looks like octonus primes.

B

Is that why he's got a transformer sticker on it? Yes,.

D

B

D

B

What motivates you, then, by working and designing your own hands.

C

I I just want to help. I just there's other kids out there like me that I don't want to be made fun of, or I want them to be, the cool kids in the yard. I want them to feel good about themselves. I want them to feel happy to be themselves.

A

Well, it's certainly a cool hand. Steven davis, remarkable story and steven is fundraising so that he can manufacture plastic hands for others who need him. You can find out more information on his gofundme page online. It's called free, 3d hands.