A TAVISTOCK youngster is enjoying life with two hands for the first time ever, after receiving a 3D printed prosthetic hand — thought to be the first of its type in the country.

As previously reported in the Times, four-year-old Abbi Jillians was born without a left hand (Amniotic Band Syndrome) and has had complicated operations in an attempt to form fingers using parts of her toes.

Determined not to put her daughter through another nerve-wracking, eight hour operation, mother Julie found online global community E-Nable which designs and builds inexpensive and functional 3D prosthetics.

After an appeal in the press for the use of a 3D printer, Plymouth College of Art's digital fabrication laboratory Fab Lab offered to print the hand from a design from E-Nable.

Following a few attempts and some adjustments, the final product was presented to Abbi at the end of last week and Julie said she can't get enough of it.

'It is absolutely amazing,' Julie said. 'She's still getting used to it at the moment so we keep having to take it off her to let her rest. Because her muscles aren't developed on that arm, we don't want her to strain anything or get a repetitive strain injury.

'It is an aid, not a permanent fixture but we keep having to put it out of reach because she just wants to use it constantly.'

The 3D printed prosthetic cost around £55 to create as opposed to the thousands of pounds it costs to make a traditional prosthetic and it can be printed in any colour — Abbi chose bright pink.

'It's fun, it's funky and it's functional. The prosthetic we were offered from Derriford looked like an actual hand but it was quite big and attached above the elbow.

'It would have been cosmetically pleasing for other people to look at her with that but now she's got something that is fun, that she can use and it's cool to be different — isn't that what we should be promoting?

'It's a wonderful piece of equipment and she loves it.'

The hand now allows Abbi to hold things such as her dollies and brush their hair. As Abbi moves her wrist down, the hand closes and as she moves her wrist up, it opens.

Julie said she has been overwhelmed with the support she has received from the community after holding a number of fundraising events for 'Abbi's Helping Hands' to help raise money to buy a 3D printer and cartridges, which she now has, and wants to donate to a school so pupils can work with charity E-Nable and learn to print the prosthetics for children across the world.

'It would be such a great educational experience for them. On an educational level you just can't beat it.'

After the Easter holidays, Abbi will be taking her new hand in to school to tell all her fellow pupils about it.

The fundraising is still continuing and tomorrow evening (Friday) the family will be raffling off Geraldine the Giraffe — a large giraffe statue that was donated by a Tavistock shop and has become somewhat of a mascot for Abbi's Helping Hands. The giraffe will be raffled off at the Tavy Club from 8pm.

Julie said: 'The support has just been overwhelming. Let's put some more smiles on lots more children's faces.'

A spokesperson for Fab Lab said: 'We are delighted to be able to provide Abbi with her very own pink, 3D printed hand.

'We worked closely with the E-Nable team and their contacts to access the print files for the development of the prototype.

'This was an essential part of the process and allowed the Fab Lab manager, Ian Hankey, to get to grips with the printing requirements.

'The main challenge was re-sizing the "hand" to meet Abbi's needs as she is still so young. Thanks to the CAD (Computer Aided?Design) skills of Ian, we were able to 3D scan Abbi's hand to get as close a match as possible.

'Abbi took the hand immediately and was very happy to try it out. It will take time to develop the skills to use it effectively but Abbi is very determined and seemed to adapt very quickly. We are pleased to have been part of a project that will have such a positive impact on Abbi and her family.'