Our patient Rachel was born with a limb difference symbrachydactyly specifically. Rachel grew up and had a pretty typical childhood. She was able to grasp objects between her thumb and her one residual finger, so she and her parents opted not to get her a prosthesis. She never let her limb difference be an issue, and neither did her family or her peers. As an adult, Rachel worked in television production and traveled around the world. She is a very upbeat person, always looking on the bright side and gifting those around her with her laugh. In July of 2024, our team interviewed Rachel about her journey with a prosthesis.

While Rachel never let her missing fingers slow her down, it did take its toll. A few years ago, she began experiencing overuse symptoms in the thumb joint on her affected hand. After a few attempted surgeries, her doctors simply could not get it to function. Rachel decided it was time for a prosthesis. She wanted to be able to continue her active lifestyle and work on her garden, where she likes to grow her own food.

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Rachel lives in a suburb of Dallas and received her prosthetic care from our Arm Dynamics center in Irving, TX. Because of Rachel’s limb difference presentation, she needed something unique that could offer her the use of a thumb while she still had her (non-functioning) thumb. Rachel and her prosthetist were able to come up with a design that would work best for her, a unique hybrid prosthesis. As she told us: “It’s a one-of-a-kind hand, a collaboration between my prosthetist and myself,” featuring two passive fingers and a passive thumb. Rachel could manipulate the fingers with her sound hand or by pressing them against a tabletop or other flat surface. But when her fingers and thumb were open, she had the unusual option of closing them by flexing her wrist down. We’ve only made a few designs similar to this at our prosthetic care centers, so Rachel’s device was quite special.

After only having her prosthesis for a week, Rachel was featured on a local television program that discussed our Dallas center and our patients. You can watch Rachel using her prosthesis in the video below beginning at 10:41:

For Rachel, it was always about function over looks. “I think because I was born with my thumb and my finger only on that hand, I’ve had since birth to figure it out. I didn’t have any issues with aesthetics if you want to look at my hand, look at it. So, once I was ready to get a prosthesis, I came at it from the angle of ‘I would much rather have my device do what I need it to do than look like a hand.’”

Over the next eight months, Rachel worked hard on using her prosthesis. “I had gotten really good at it. I could write my name with my left hand, I could tie my shoes with my device, I was able to carry heavier and heavier loads, I could chop vegetables a whole lot faster I was trying to teach myself all kinds of crazy things.”

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But then in February of 2023, Rachel was in a car accident. “I ended up having most of my left hand amputated, including my thumb. So I had to start over.” She had to wait months for her hand to heal enough for her to be able to wear a prosthesis again. In good news, Rachel is sure that having her prosthesis on at the time saved her wrist and palm in the accident. When she was finally fit with a device, it wasn't a hybrid device, but it does have the added feature of an Apple Tag, making it easy to find her hand with her phone when needed.

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In November of 2023, Rachel had surgery on her right hand, her sound hand, due to overuse. But the surgery failed and has caused a lot of nerve issues. So, her left side with the prosthesis was her only usable hand. But in Rachel’s upbeat way, she capped her update with, “It’s quite an adventure! The whole thing has been a challenge without full use of my right hand, but the device has been helpful.”

While 2023 was a tough year for Rachel due to having limited use of her hands, her spirits are still high and 2024 has proven to be a better year. “I’m healing up and I’m finally ready to get back out there and do stuff.”

Our prosthetists and therapists enjoy creating solutions and working with patients who are motivated and collaborative. We consider each patient part of our team, and our goal is to design a prosthesis that works best for their needs. Our prosthetists create hundreds of unique upper limb prostheses, and our occupational therapists teach those patients how to use them. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about the prosthetic care we offer, please contact us.

If you would like to comment on this article or send a message to Rachel for us to pass on, please do so below. 

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