A heartwarming photo of RE Pranke, a 3-year-old girl born without arms, and Jessica Cox, the first armless pilot is proving you don’t need limbs to share a hug.
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“It was unbelievable”, mom Karlyn Pranke told ABC News.
“I’m just grateful that we had the opportunity to show everyone that it doesn’t matter if you have arms or not, that you can do the same things as everyone else – you just may have to do it a little differently”, Karlyn told ABC News.
The images were captured when three-year-old RE was driven six hours across the US from home in St. Paul, Minnesota by her mum to meet Jessica, who was also the first armless black belt in the American Tae Kwon Do Association.
RE was born without arms and her mother said she recently had been saying that she wanted arms (RE pictured left with her mother, Karlyn). She wanted to show her daughter that she could accomplish any of her goals, even without arms, just like Cox had.
The meeting was filmed as part of a documentary called Right Footed, which follows Cox’s story as she overcomes many obstacles to become a pilot.
“I did show her the airplane which was a wild moment for her”, Cox said.
As ABC News reports, mom Karlyn Pranke started planning the meetup since the 20th week of her pregnancy, when she found out that her daughter, RE aka Ruth Evelyn, would be born like Jessica was.
Guerra, who is also missing both arms, helped Cox on her journey to realizing that her disability didn’t have to hold her back. “That picture clearly showed that you don’t need arms to embrace someone. It’s saying, ‘I’m going to be just fine.'”.
‘You adapt to what you are given.
For anyone who thinks disabilities are a social hindrance, Cox is proof that such thinking is flawed.
‘It was special that we could feel the same, mutual feeling – what a hug is without arms.’.
Jessica continues: “It’s that feeling of, ‘Oh, I’m going to be OK”.
“I was so happy when I heard RE and her family were coming to the premiere”.
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“Right Footed” is now on the festival circuit and more information is available on their website.
