Limb difference families unite again in the Midwest
The past month has been super epic for us at Born Just Right. We built a new helper arm, held an awesome meet up in Chicago and we are wrapping up a really fun weekend taking part in the Helping Hands Midwest picnic in the Cincinnati, Ohio area.
This year was the third year for the event and it brought out about 200 people to eat, play outside and even get a chance to snag t-shirts from some of my favorite site: Lucky Fin Project, My Special Hand, Living One Handed and Candida Sullivan was there to share her Zippy books.
Strangely enough, this was the first opportunity to actually Meet Molly, Ryan and the rest of the family from Lucky Fin Project and I had yet to meet Candida in person as well. It was a trip we kept delaying because I’ve been out of town so much. But in the end, it just felt right. We needed to see our friends and new friends at the picnic. I’m so very thankful for Kim Vogelgesang, her family and friends for taking the time to make sure the picnic was fun, relaxing and delicious. I was amazed by the number of deserts Kim’s mom created for the crowd.
To add to the fun, there was a special concert that same evening where we all gathered at the American Legion hall, ate pizza, drank beverage and grooved to Tony Memmel and his wife Lesleigh. Tony is an awesome performer who was born with one hand. The kids and adults in attendance danced and giggled and sang along. Have you heard the special Lucky Fin Song Tony wrote for the kids as part of the Lucky Fin Project? You should totally download it.
The next day we headed into downtown Cincinnati and enjoyed lunch with a good friend and then we met up with many Helping Hands friends at the Cincinnati Reds game. The Cardinals were pretty rough on the Reds… And we’re Cards fans so we had an extra good time. It was so fun to have extra time with many friends on a beautiful day.
Our trip isn’t quite over… Our car decided we needed to spend an extra day in a small Indiana town while it got fixed. We’ll probably get home tonight. Just in time for my next work trip! Either way, this adventure was worth it.
It was great meeting you guys, as well! We hope to see you again soon.
Tony Memmel
I was wondering if you are familiar with a prosthetic company called Touch Bionics? Prosthetics have come a long way in the last few years. Your daughter may be a great candidate to wear one of these.
Maria, I am aware of the company but we’ve chosen a simpler version of prosthetics that focus on specific skills for now. When she gets older and doesn’t need a new prosthetic every year or so, we’ll get into the more complicated and high-tech arms.