Three year old Tilly Lockey is the youngest owner of one of the most high tech prostheses.  The little girl’s prosthetic hands feature a chip on the inside that senses muscle movements on her arm.  This in turn directs her life-like prostheses to open or close, allowing her to grip things and make real use of her new hands.

Tilly before she was fitted with prosthetic hands (from www.tillylockey.co.uk)

Now that itself is amazing, just to see how technology is evolving to create such advanced prosthetics that are so intuitive and operate much more naturally with your arm’s muscle movements.  But what’s really amazing is the little girl and her family.

When Tilly was just 17 months old, her parents went through the devastating ordeal of discovering their infant caught Meningococcal Septicaemia, which is a form of meningitis.  With no vaccination available, Tilly was not expected to survive this deadly disease.

On her website, Tilly’s mother, Sarah, describes the day she knew her daughter was not well:

“It happened so quickly that in just minutes she was covered from head to toe in small, reddish bruise like marks. Tilly was rushed to hospital in an ambulance at top speed, but the marks were getting larger and larger by the second. Still today the images won’t leave my mind - Tilly reaching out for me: “mum-mum…mum-mum….mum-mum”.”

Tilly spent four weeks in hospital and underwent 10 blood transfusions… and by a miracle her family will never forget, the little girl survived.  But due to the toll the meningitis took on her, Tilly’s hands and feet could not be saved.  Both hands and her toes were amputated.

Three year old Tilly with her new hands (from www.tillylockey.co.uk)

Sarah Lockey began focusing all her time on fundraising for her daughter’s high-tech prosthetic hands, which she was fitted into less than a month ago.  And it seems Tilly has taken very well to her new hands - Sarah says she can pick up coins and candy from surfaces…even use a pencil to draw.  It’s a thrill for not just Tilly, but her family, who hopes she will have the prostheses as she grows up.

The problem is how often they will have to buy new pairs to keep Tilly using them - doctors say one, if not two, a year.  And here’s where the real crunch comes in - they cost 24,000 British pounds a pair - that’s $40,000 Canadian.  For her parents to fund buying hands for Tilly until her 18th birthday, it will cost 800,000 pounds, or a staggering $1.3 million Canadian.

Give Tilly a Hand, operating under the Meningitis Help Charitable Trust, is Sarah’s fundraising campaign to raise the money for her little girl.  A slew of celebrities have gotten on-board, donating an autographed hand print or drawing of their hand for auctioning off.  This includes world-renowned celebrities such as Patrick Stewart, JK Rowling, Kelly Rowland, and Charlotte Church.

They also accept direct donations.  To make a donation, or to find out more about Tilly’s story, head to www.tillylockey.co.uk or www.givetillyahand.co.uk.