Watch: Eight-year-old Telford girl giggles with delight as she test-drives new £20,000 bionic arm
This is the adorable moment a disabled Telford girl who was born without an arm giggles with delight as she test-drives a new £20,000 bionic limb.
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Eight-year-old Zoey Hampton-Pidgeon hopes to be fitted with a prosthetic limb so she can fulfil her dream of learning how to skip.
Heart-warming footage shows her trying out a prototype of the arm, made by US firm the Open Bionics Foundation, for the first time.
The beaming schoolgirl said: "I'm looking forward to being able to use a skipping rope and tying my shoelaces on my own."
Zoey, from Trench, won the chance to be fitted with a bionic arm after entering a draw run by the Big Hero 3 campaign.
Three UK children who were born with missing limbs were picked to benefit from the technology.
The families of the children are trying to jointly raise £20,000, with the firm matching the figure to fund the programme.
Zoey's gran Jann, 52, who is helping fundraise along with family and friends, said: "We're bombarding social media.
“Local convenience stores and businesses are doing raffles for us too.
"It's £60,000 for the three arms altogether but Open Bionics have already secured £40,000 of that for us.
"£20,000 is a big ask, but it's split between the three families. Fingers crossed she'll get her arm by Christmas!
“Zoey is very resilient, she’s brilliant at doing things, she's found a way.
“She’s starting to notice that her friends are doing things that she needs help with. Like tying her shoes, zips and using knives and forks.”
The bionic arm is operated using sensors to control grip strength, allowing users to hold cups of tea and even pinch their fingers together.
Zoey’s dad Thomas, 28, said: "It would just make us all happy seeing Zoey doing things she wasn't able to do before - making life that little bit easier for her.
"I found out she had been selected when I was at work. My phone went off and I had a look - I just started smiling to myself, I was that happy.
"I couldn't wait to come home and give her the news."
The family has launched a GoFundMe page which has so far raised £4,000.
If the money is raised by next month Zoey and the other two children should be fitted with their new limbs in time for Christmas.
Jann added: “She’s got a date to go down to be measured at the end of October. Zoey wants a pink one.
“It would just be amazing if Zoey can have her new arm in time for Christmas to open her presents by herself.”
