A Hand for Maggie

EMPOWER team to design prosthetic device for engineering peer

by Emily Slater

Maggie Collier holds a mold of her left hand, her abnormally short middle and ring fingers and index and pinky fingers that cannot bend. Her hand was stunted by a syndrome that restricts blood flow in the womb.

Most of life’s defining moments happen unexpectedly as was the case for Maggie Collier in her biomedical engineering class on a spring day in 2022.

A materials specialist was visiting lecturer David Laiho’s introductory class to discuss how molding and casting play a critical role in engineering, including the field of prosthetics, and Collier was captivated.

She wanted to learn how to craft prosthetic devices that would help others but didn’t know she was on the verge of discovering they could also help her.

Brooke Wheeler — the specialist from Reynolds Advanced Materials whose son received a liberal arts degree from Cal Poly in 2013 — concluded his demonstration by offering each student the chance to make a mold of their thumb.

Collier, however, had a different idea.

She asked Wheeler on a whim if she could make a mold of her left hand to capture the likeness of her abnormally short fingers that were stunted by a syndrome that restricts blood flow in the womb.

Wheeler’s response stunned Collier.

“You could use this to make something to help with your hand,” he said, explaining that the mold could be a first step toward creating a device that would give Collier a level of mobility and freedom she’s never had.

“Really?” she asked in disbelief. “No way!”

Many molds later, a team within the student-run EMPOWER is on a yearlong mission to engineer a prosthetic device for their peer who has encouraged countless others to embrace their differences.

More On Amniotic Band Syndrome

Amniotic band syndrome can occur when the inner layer of the placenta, called the amnion, is damaged during pregnancy. If this happens, thins strands of tissue (amniotic bands) form inside the amnion. The fiberlike bands tangle around the developing fetus, restricting blood flow, thus affecting the growth of certain body parts and leading to the possibility of congenital deformities.

‘Awesome, Not Weird’

Collier, who is in her third year at Cal Poly, was born with a hand deformed by amniotic band syndrome in which loose bands of tissue in the uterus wrap around a developing fetus, preventing blood from reaching the body parts that are entangled.

Two middle fingers on her left hand are shortened, missing the end portions, while her pointer and pinky fingers can’t bend.

Collier’s parents met with a team of doctors at Shriners Hospitals for Children who presented options that included surgery to lengthen her middle fingers, but the procedure would not have increased mobility, so they took a different approach.

“My parents taught me to love that this is what my hand is,” said Collier who would tell her classmates and friends in Santa Clarita that God made her special. “I think it’s the coolest thing ever.”

From a young age, Collier not only celebrated her own disability but others with disabilities.

When Collier discovered one of her kindergarten classmates didn’t have legs, she approached him in line and said, “Your legs are like my fingers!”

“I didn’t look at him like ‘that’s so sad.’ I thought it was something that made him unique and would give him the chance to find his own way of doing things,” she said.

Collier later shared the same sentiment with a girl in her friend’s swim class who was missing an arm and a girl in her former teacher’s class with a hand deformity.

As she promoted diversity, Collier destigmatized disabilities.

When she started cheerleading, a girl on Collier’s squad refused to hold hands with her, so Collier chased after her to show there was nothing to fear — a story that would become a favorite of her grandmother and illustrate Collier’s mettle.

Collier also joked about what led to her shortened fingers: “Don’t run with scissors!” she advised her classmates, telling others she’d had an accident with a cheese grater.

In lightening the mood, Collier found she could set the tone of conversations.

“If I could tell someone was going to express sympathy, I would say, ‘No, I think it’s fun. Look how cute they are!’”

Along the way, her friends began echoing her message of inclusion.

When a third-grade classmate showed Collier a picture of a three-fingered alien that he said resembled her, her friend responded, ‘Why are you saying that? Her fingers are awesome, not weird!”

By fifth grade, another of her friends started walking around school holding two fingers down so she could experience what Collier lived with.

“That was the first time I saw someone loving something about me as much as I did,” Collier said. “I thought, ‘Oh, you want to be like me?’ That’s so cool.’ ”

‘Let’s Do This’

While Collier exudes positivity, her journey has not been without its daily challenges.

Collier can’t make a fist, for example, due to the combination of two abnormally short fingers and two other fingers that can’t bend on her left hand. She can’t grip in a certain position or lift heavy objects.

Before completing certain tasks, Collier said she devises a game plan in her head. When she gathered with family over Thanksgiving break, her cousin asked Collier and her sister if they could swing him between them. To meet his request, Collier realized she would have to position herself on his left side so she could use her right hand to grip his left.

Collier has spent her life improvising — skipping rungs to navigate the monkey bars at school and finding a way to hoist cheerleaders on her stunt team — but she can’t perform certain tasks, like carrying in groceries or lifting a weight bar at the gym.

“I’ve always found another way, but I can’t with lifting things. It feels like it should be so simple, but it’s not and that’s frustrating,” she said.

As she navigated through the biomedical engineering program at Cal Poly, Collier attended that pivotal class in the spring of 2021 when she completed the mold of her fingers she later gifted to her mom.

After Wheeler’s materials presentation, he left extra SmoothOn mold-making material for Laiho and Collier who together embarked on an exploratory mission to determine the feasibility of creating a prosthetic device that could aid Collier with lifting and gripping.

Collier, middle left, is part of the base for the Saugus High School varsity competition team as they practice a pyramid in 2019 during a camp at the University of Kentucky.

“I didn’t know prosthetics was an option until I was older,” said Collier, who now is contemplating a career in prosthetics rehabilitation.

The professor and student experimented with molding and Laiho told Collier she could be a candidate for EMPOWER, or Endeavors to Move People Onward With Engineered Results.

The student-run organization selects a handful of projects each year to improve the quality of life of a veteran, community member or group of people with a disability through the creation of medical devices. Projects have ranged from building prosthetic arms and legs to developing motorized devices and health-related apps.

Laiho reached out to club President Yael Livneh, a fourth-year biomedical engineering student from Palo Alto, California, and the trio met to discuss the possibility of Collier as a candidate.

“I thought I would be pitching the project to her,” said Collier, who tried to tamp down her excitement before the meeting. “I was still in disbelief this could be happening.”

Livneh remembers the moment well.

“When Maggie walked in and told me her story, I immediately said, ‘Yes! Let’s do this.’” ■