A little girl born with a rare disease is on a quest to throw the ceremonial first pitch for every Major League Baseball team as she sets out to prove that children can live extraordinary lives despite their handicaps or physical deformities.
Hailey Dawson, 7, was born with a rare disease called Poland Syndrome that causes birth defects in one out of every 200,000 births. She’s missing the three middle fingers — pointer, middle and ring — on her right hand, giving her the appearance of always flashing the friendly Hawaiian “hang loose” Shaka symbol.
Anyone who knows Hailey believes the Shaka symbol she flashes is of no coincidence. Those who know her say she’s a tough kid who is proud of the way she looks. She will often present her little hand to high-five her friends, hold their hands or to wave to people. She’ll often try to complete a task with her right hand before relying on help, switching to her non-dominant left or using a handicap.
And now, the soon-to-be second-grader is throwing first pitches at MLB games with the help of a 3D-printed hand so that she can prove that deformities aren’t a hindrance.
“She has no fear. When she waves, she waves with her little hand. When kids want to hold her hand, that’s the hand she pulls out. She has no care about what other people think,” said Yong Dawson, Hailey’s mom. “When people ask her, she says, ‘This is what I was born with. You were born with blue eyes, I was born with his hand. This is me.’”
Hailey began her run of ceremonial first pitches a few years ago at a University of Nevada Las Vegas Rebels game, not far from where the Dawsons live. Since then, she has expanded to two MLB teams, throwing her first MLB opening pitch at a Baltimore Orioles vs. Oakland Athletics game in Baltimore in August 2015. Last month, she threw out the first pitch in a second MLB game at the Washington Nationals’ Nationals Park when they hosted the Texas Rangers.
Her journey has allowed her to meet several MLB players, including Chicago Cubs third baseman and Las Vegas native Kris Bryant and Nationals right fielder/Vegas native Bryce Harper.
And she’s now on a quest to pitch at as many MLB games as possible to raise awareness about Poland Syndrome.
The hand
It took a few years and a number of prototypes — a journey that had the Dawson family collaborating with researchers from South Africa to the U.S. — to find a hand that fit just right.
Ultimately, it was scientists in their own backyard at UNLV that built the hand Hailey wears to pitch today.
Hailey has six different hands that have been constructed with various superficial designs for a variety of purposes (including a white presidential one for when she toured the White House and met then-President Barack Obama). All of them contain five fingers that are held together and controlled with fishing line. They’re mostly made of hard plastic.
The fingers open and close as she flicks her wrist up and down. As she winds up to throw a pitch, she begins with her wrist in a down position so that he fingers clasp around the ball (try it with your own hand — your relaxed fingers will naturally open and close depending on which way you flick your wrist).
As she forces her hand forward toward her target — baseball catchers — she lifts up her wrist so that her fingers loosen, releasing the ball. A 30-pound weight, which Hailey worked up to from just 5 pounds initially, adds power to her throw.
The 3D-printed hand project has been led by Dr. Mohamed Trabia, the associate dean for Research, Graduate Studies and Computing at UNLV, and a professor of mechanical engineering, as well as Dr. Brendan O’Toole, chair of the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the College of Engineering’s Mendenhall Innovation Program that’s focused on entrepreneurship and design.
Through an army of students and a sponsorship by engineering company AECOM, Trabia and O’Toole have designed 3D-printed hands for two girls, Hailey included. The project remains ongoing at UNLV, as they’re constantly scouring the open-source websites Flexy-Hand 2 to Robohand to get new design ideas.
Currently, they’re looking for ways to better scale the designs they find online to meet the demands of particular individuals. That includes increasing flexibility and use of the thumb so that people like Hailey can complete increasingly complex and meticulous tasks, such as picking up a pen from a table.
Down the road, they may also add motorization capabilities.
“Right now, the fingers clench when the user rotates their wrist. It’s a simple design and low cost,” O’Toole said. “But that means every time you want to grab something you have to flex your wrist, so we’re looking at ways to add motors to improve functionality.”
The UNLV project hasn’t yet settled on a design where they can easily fit the motors and have it be functional and remain easy-to-use for a little kid. But they’re working toward that.
“We don’t have a final model that fits all,” Trabia said. “We’re in flux in a sense.”
The future of 3D printing and medicine
As 3D printers become more affordable and scientists continue to experiment with new materials that are more durable, flexible and more harmonious with the body, O’Toole and Trabia predict a future where mechanical engineering will play a key role in biomechanics.
In the example of 3D printed hands, the ability to be able to print them out using lightweight metal materials would offer a more permanent solution compared with the plastic ones.
My little inspiration meeting those she admires. #krisbryant #bryceharper #cubs #nationals #nlmvp2015 #nlmvp2016 #luckygirl #baseball pic.twitter.com/5QovItDTHt
— Yong Dawson (@YongDawsonLV) March 9, 2017
As the biomechanics improve, the prosthetics could also eventually be built with components, such as chips and sensors, that make them smarter. Motorized hands, for example, could have sensors and switches that automatically open and release the ball at a specific point of the pitch.
“Once you have a motorized design that’s reliable and small enough and has enough battery power that it works, ultimately you would add smart technology that it would automatically sense your motion and respond accordingly,” O’Toole said. “You could add an artificial intelligent aspect to it. It’s something that’s doable now, but it’s going to take time to get to do that.”
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The ability to print with different types of metals is also seen as a “huge expansion area for design and 3D printing in general,” he said.
New printing materials, such as titanium, would open up new opportunities for implants that could help people in a wide-range of scenarios. Currently, UNLV is working on developing a spinal surgery implant device this way, and comparing its quality, benefits and costs with similar devices produced through traditional — and more expensive — manufacturing channels.
In the future, a person in need for a hip or knee replacement might be able to be scanned in an MRI and then have a 3D-printed replacement part designed and customized for them and printed at a lower-cost on a much faster timeline, they said.
“It will be built to fit you,” said Trabia.
Hailey
For now, though, the goal of the Dawson family is much shorter term.
While Hailey doesn’t always use the hands UNLV has designed for her, they have come into play during certain activities, such as pitching at MLB games, that have helped build her confidence.
The goal is to continue having Hailey throw first pitches at as many MLB games and for as many MLB teams as possible to continue down that road of boosting her confidence and inspiring other children to set and achieve lofty goals.
Yong says they have requests out to a number of teams, including the Cubs, and are awaiting responses.
“Maybe she can throw one out in every major league ballpark,” Yong envisioned on a recent call with SportTechie. “That’s what I’m going to work on this summer.”