A TAVISTOCK mother has said for her daughter to have a new hand before Christmas would be the 'best present ever' — and a digital laboratory has offered its services to make it a possibility.

Four-year-old Abbi Jillians was born without a left hand (Amniotic Band Syndrome) and has had complicated operations to form fingers using parts of her toes.

She is due for another operation soon, but her mother, Julie, has since been in touch with American not-for-profit collaboration E-Nable — a global online community of humanitarian volunteers designing and building inexpensive and functional 3D prosthetics.

The family put out an appeal earlier this week for anyone with a 3D printer to help Abbi have the use of both hands by volunteering to print the prosthetic for them. Since the appeal, they have had a number of offers from across the county and have decided upon the help of digital fabrication laboratory FabLab, based in Plymouth College of Art.

Julie said: 'It is really touching to know there are some really kind people around. We are very excited at the thought that Abbi may not have to go through another eight-hour operation. If we could get it done before Christmas it would be a brilliant present for her.'

She said Abbi's operation took the middle section of a couple of her toes, which was replaced with bone from her hip and was put into her hand to make her palm bigger.

The next operation would involve removing one or two of her toes to attach to her hand, which it is hoped would grow like fingers, but which Julie worries could be 'swapping one problem for another'.

'She will be limited with them,' said Julie, 'but with a 3D printed hand it can open and close and she would be able to hold things. Children who have got a 3D hand can even pick up a penny with it — she would love it.

'FabLab have said they would do it free of charge and they will be signing up with the E-Nable community and will be able to help other limbless people across the world.'

Julie said she chose to go with FabLab's offer because she wanted it to be educational and she wanted students and other people to be able to benefit from the project as well.

The 3D printer would be used to print out a number of different parts that would fit together to make a fully functioning hand, which would cost far less than the thousands of pounds it costs for a traditional prosthetic.

Julie said Abbi struggles to do everyday tasks that most of us take for granted, like taking a lid off a pen, or playing dress up and applying a bit of makeup.

'For her to be able to do things with two hands would be absolutely brilliant. If this is what they are capable of now, just think in five or six years time what can be possible — now we've just got to ask ourselves whether we should put off the operation for a bit.'

Julie said she encouraged Abbi to do as much as she could and so she frequently went swimming, horse riding and attended ballet classes in the town.

'She is a confident little girl but I want to be able to give her the ability to do things for herself. She asks for help to do things like opening presents —nothing would be more delightful than for her to open her Christmas presents herself.

'With this 3D printed hand she might be able to do all these things once she has got used to working it — I would love to give her that.'

Abbi was due to be meeting the manager of FabLab today (Thursday) to discuss the project.

Ian Hankey, FabLab manager, said: 'As we work purely with digital technologies, I can't think of a better project to be getting involved with. E-Nable have told Julie that a PLA plastic machine is what is required and we have a 3D touch printer which I'm hoping will be right for the job.

'I've told Julie that we will do whatever we can and if the machine we have is compatible with the American design, we will be delighted to produce the parts needed for Abbi.'

Ian said parts of the hand were quite complex and a basic machine might not be able to cope with them. He said if there were parts that need a more complex machine, he hoped the FabLab network would be able to help.

For more information about the 3D printed hand visit the website http://www.enablingthefuture.org">www.enablingthefuture.org