Sammie Rameau from Best is eight years old and has been missing part of his left forearm since birth. He likes to play sports, preferably with a ball. His dream was to play baseball. Students from the Fontys Pulsed Academy therefore made Sammie a prosthesis specially designed for him.
Sammie’s face beams when he hits the first ball with the baseball prosthesis at the Fontys Pulsed Academy in Eindhoven on Friday. “I really want to exercise, because otherwise you will get fat,” says Sammie, looking proudly at the baseball bat. The bat is attached to his arm with the prosthesis. “I also play handball and I really enjoy sports,” says Sammie.
“I don’t want to disappoint Sammie.”
Noury Schroten is one of the students who worked on the baseball arm for Sammie. “Sammie has been here a few times and has told us exactly what he liked. That is why we have developed the prosthesis in such a way that he can quickly wear it with a clamp system. A baseball glove can also easily be screwed to the prosthesis. It is very nice to make something like that when you know the person you’re doing it for. I want to give the best I have, because I don’t want to disappoint Sammie.”
The students are all proud of the result created with a 3D printer. “We worked on it for three months and it fits well, he can swing it around and even now that he has it on for the first time, he can hit a ball with it.” Unfortunately, catching the ball with the baseball glove turns out to be a bit more difficult.
“Sammie can do almost anything with one hand, just not tying shoelaces.”
“Sammie is used to doing everything with his right hand, so he really has to learn to catch with his left,” says father Michiel Rameau. “Sammie has also had two other prosthetics before. One with a hand and another with a fork on it, but he has used it very little. He can do almost everything with one hand, except not tying shoelaces.”
For fun, the students also made a yellow plastic chainsaw for the prosthesis. “When he was here to try on the baseball prosthesis, he immediately wanted to take it home,” says Noury. Sammie proudly shows the chainsaw. “It was broken down once, but luckily it was repaired,” he says.
He doesn’t know yet whether he will also join a baseball club with his prosthesis. “I want to play baseball, but we’re not sure yet if it’s possible,” says the beaming Sammie.
