Friends' Reaction To Little Girl's New Prosthetic Leg Will Melt Your Heart
Her friends’ reactions to her new leg will melt your heart
Anu is seven years old and wants to do all the things every seven-year-old wants to do — run, jump and play with her friends. Thanks to a new prosthetic, there is no keeping up with her these days.
Anu had her leg amputated soon after she was born and has a prosthetic leg she wears daily. Recently she had a bright pink “sports blade” made just for her, which allows her more flexibility to run around, dance and play. “It makes me run faster and do my street dancing faster,” Anu tells BBC Midlands Today.
She finally got the chance to show off her new leg at her school in Birmingham and her friends thought it was just as cool as she does. “Is that your new pink leg?” one girl says in the video. “Wow!” someone else cheers while another little girl gives her a giant hug. Then they all run off to play.
Kids are so awesome. They have none of the hang-ups or judgments of adults. They don’t care that her leg is different. In fact, it’s something to be celebrated. Kids just care who was “IT” last in tag because if they have to be “IT” twice in a row, you are going to hear about it.
The National Health Service (NHS) of England promised $1.2M will be made available to children like Anu for research and development of these special prosthetics, as they need to be replaced every two years or so as children grow. And these prosthetics are not cheap – around $2,500-4000 each. That funding, however, may be in jeopardy depending on the results of the upcoming general election.
There are other organizations out there also making a difference in the lives of kids who require prosthetics. According to The Independent, the company Open Bionics and others like them are doing their part to turn perceived disabilities into superhero transformations for kids. Their company decided to partner with Disney to create robotic hands for children in need with themes like Iron Man and Star Wars.
Image via Open Bionics
“The power of these prosthetics is that the public perception is completely different. All of a sudden they’re not being asked how they lost their hand, they’re being asked where they got their cool robot hand, how does it feel, and how does it work? It completely flips the perception 180 degrees. What might have been perceived as their greatest weakness is seen as their greatest strength,” a company representative said.
These companies are giving children the opportunity for mobility they need so they can concentrate on just being kids. For Anu and her friends it’s business as usual on the playground, which is exactly as it should be.
