Zachary Sheirtcliff (right), pictured with little brother Jacob, received the plastic hand through a charity organisation called e-Nable. Photo / Greg Bowker
Zachary Sheirtcliff (right), pictured with little brother Jacob, received the plastic hand through a charity organisation called e-Nable. Photo / Greg Bowker
Zachary is part Ironman thanks to 3D technology and kind volunteer.
Not every kid can say they're part superhero.
But 6-year-old Zachary Sheirtcliff now can. Zachary was born with a relatively rare deformity - affecting one in about 30,000 - where parts of limbs don't grow. In Zachary's case his fingers didn't develop.
His mum and dad, Martyn and Elaine Sheirtcliff, became aware of it at their 20-week scan when it showed digits missing on his right hand due to a temporary loss of blood flow.
After he was born they had the option of surgery - removing a toe from each foot and turning them into pinky fingers on each hand - but they decided against that, opting to see how he grew, Mr Sheirtcliff said.
"From day one he has been great with it [and] can do most things."
But last year, as Mrs Sheirtcliff was days away from having their third child, Max, now 8 months, a friend of hers found information online about a child being given a hand made from a 3D printer. As Zachary was fairly self-sufficient with his hands, they hadn't been actively looking for a proper prosthesis, but after delving more into where the hand came from - enablingthefuture.org - they had a look.
"When I did I thought it was such a fab thing," Mrs Sheirtcliff said. "A superhero hand, you know - this was something that we could look into and there was no pressure, not like a normal prosthesis, this is something that's fun and it might help him."
e-NABLE was founded in 2013 with about 70 volunteers making and delivering new hands. It now had more than 5500 members who were donating hands to people in more than 40 countries.
One of those volunteering is Melbourne engineer Mat Bowtell who replied to the Sheirtcliffs' email, offering to make the hand. After an exchange of emails over several months, $25 worth of parts, 15 hours of printing time and Zachary's choice of an Ironman theme for his hand, it was complete.
Zachary Sheirtcliff received the plastic hand through a charity organisation called e-Nable. Photo / Greg Bowker
"It probably cost more in postage to get it over there," he laughed. "We do it as volunteers and don't get any financial benefit, it's the gift of giving I suppose ... we get to help a stranger in a different country."
Instead of helping hundreds, he would focus on up to 10 people, including Zachary, and send off adjusted, lengthened or broken parts as he continued to grow.
"That's the benefit of this group of people around the world, we're always improving each other's designs and sharing knowledge and networking, it's amazing ... it's gone from nothing to where we are now in two years."
Mr Bowtell said anyone could make the hands as all the designs were on the e-NABLE website.
The hand arrived in the mail last week, and Mr Sheirtcliff decided to film Zachary opening the package and seeing his new hand for the first time. It turned out to be quite an emotional experience.
"Obviously as parents you don't want your kids to be different in any way and want them to be able to do anything and to have this extra gift and his reaction, he was just thrilled and gave us big hugs, it was very emotional."
As for Zachary, he's chuffed with his new addition.
"I think it's good, I like it. I can ride a bike with it, I can pick up a balloon."
