According to the National Human Genome Research Institute definition, Poland Syndrome is an underdevelopment or absence of the chest muscle on one side of the body and webbing of the fingers of the hand on the same side. With the help of technology, Dawson was able to throw out the first pitch to her favorite player, Manny Machado.
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Science can be pretty cool, especially in instances such as this when it helped make a little girl’s dream come true.
Incredible, and bless her little heart.
The new hand, created by UNLV students, has given Hailey the opportunity to do many things that she was unable to do before with her right hand including, you guessed it, gripping and throwing a baseball. The group is now on their fourth and most advanced iteration of the device which they call the Flexy-Hand. The fingers grab when her wrist is down, and open up when her wrist moves upward. When Hailey’s mother, Yong, reached out to the organization, they coordinated with the family for a special visit.
Baseball fans were treated to a very special sight on Monday night (Tuesday morning AEST) ahead of the MLB game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Oakland Athletics. This 3D printed robotic hand features the colors of Dawson’s favorite team, the Orioles.
Orioles fans got to see the result of that quest – a futuristic prosthetic hand that was produced by a 3D printer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Yong Dawson also got a personal call from Orioles executive vice president John Angelos. You kind of scream internally and have a 30 minute discussion while the whole time you’re thinking OMG is this for real? Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would ever happen.
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Little 5-year-old Hailey Dawson was born with Poland Syndrome, unfortunately.
