CINCINNATI, Ohio — A college-bound student now has her community to thank for making her dream of becoming a nurse a reality.
What You Need To Know
- Hayley Wilson was born without her left hand but never let that stop her growing up
- Wilson always wanted to be a nurse, but was worried having one hand would make it difficult to achieve
- Wilson’s community of Wilmington came together and raised over $18,000 in a GoFundMe to buy Wilson a bionic arm called the Hero Arm
Hayley Wilson is about to start her first week of nursing school.
“I just wanted to be a nurse my whole life,” Wilson said. “It’s what I’ve always dreamed of doing.”
But Wilson was always a bit apprehensive to become a nurse. That’s because she was born without her left hand.
“I think the most nervous part was dealing with patients, and I didn’t want them to freak out,” she said. “I don’t want them to freak out that I don’t have a left hand because I’m just as capable as people with two hands.”
Wilson’s community of Wilmington decided to rally around her after finding out she was a candidate for a hero arm—a bionic arm that could help her be a nurse.
“I never really realized how many people I have that care for me and actually wanted to help me until I went to try and get this hero arm,” Wilson said.
A GoFundMe raised over $18,000—the cost of the hero arm. The new prosthetic will allow her to do things she never even imagined, even picking up a marker is a big feat.
“She’s adapted just well without something so far,” said Tom Gore, a CPO with the Hanger Clinic. “There are a few things that in her career path with nursing that an extra set of fingers will probably help with.”
Wilson has just one more fitting appointment before the arm is sent off to be made just for her. She says operating the arm is a new task she’s excited to master.
“Whenever I move my wrist right here, I flex it this way or backwards, when I flex it, it flexes my muscles,” she said. “So therefore, the sensors will be where my muscles are and so whichever way I move my wrist is when it opens and closes and does the things with the fingers.”
“They have multi-articulating fingers that are a little more realistic,” Gore said. “And what they can do, so I can do a pinch, these are all called grips and I’ve just changed the grip to be a different setup.”
Wilson says she can’t believe all the people that have rallied behind her cause.
“I don’t think there’s really a way I can thank them enough for helping me other than getting the hero arm and becoming that nurse,” Wilson said. “Because without them, it wouldn’t have been possible.”
And she’s looking forward to beginning her dream of becoming a nurse and standing out in her own way.
“It’s going to look different because it’s going to be a bionic hand, but everyone is unique in their own way,” she said. “So, that’ll be my way of being unique.”
