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LIMBBO FOUNDATION LIMB DIFFERENCE WITH A SMILE Jane Hewitt tells us more about how LimbBo Foundation started and how it is building the self esteem of limb different children globally. THE LimbBo foundation was set up to support limb different children and their families. We are a small, but growing, organization based in Barnsley. We work hard to raise awareness as well as designing and 3D printing prosthetic adaptations such as bike attachments. We now send these adaptations worldwide. Tommy D is the inspiration behind LimbBo. Tommy is my grandson, his father, Adam is my son. During early pregnancy Adam and his wife were given the devastating news that a complication had occurred and their baby was going to born missing a limb. Adam remembers the lovely chatty nurse pausing and going quiet, “she looked concerned. She told us she had to go get a colleague. My heart sank and I tried to reassure my panicking wife that everything was ok….I knew it wasn’t. Another more senior looking nurse came in, she looked concerned, they talked quietly and then she left. The nurse turned to us and nervously told us that something was wrong with our baby.” In that moment Adam had never felt pain quite like it. They explained that the baby Adam and his wife had tried for so long to have was going to be born disabled and missing a limb and could have potentially more problems. Crying and shaken, Adam and his wife were ushered into a cramped little room, walking past the waiting room full of expectant parents who didn’t know where to look. They were given a basic black and white generic pamphlet about limb difference, which didn’t help one bit as it was dry and clinical. They were also given the option of abortion. They left feeling numb and confused. As a family we
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were feeling worried, isolated and however lovely the nurses were, they couldn’t give us the reassurance that we needed. 4 months later, baby Thomas arrived. Adam describes the moment, “as I held him for the first time all of my worries disappeared, yes this little boy was missing an arm but he was beautiful. Initially, it was difficult to see him try to pick things up and not be able to, what hit me deep down was that things like this were going to be a day to day occurrence, but I was prepared for this. What I wasn’t prepared for was how he adapted everything to make things work. He began to use his feet, pinned things down and carried things with his ‘little arm’,
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