24-year-old Natasha Hope-Simpson was the victim of a hit-and-run that left her pinned between two vehicles last November. The result of the incident was that Ms. Hope-Simpson tragically lost one of her legs below the knee and was hospitalised for well over a month. In a story that turned from trauma and tragedy to aspiration and inspiration, Natasha bravely faced her loss, and overcame it with her creative prowess and perseverance, by creating her own 3D printed leg prosthesis.
Ms. Hope-Simpson received a prosthetic leg that was functional, but the augmentation was aesthetically displeasing. The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design student was then put in contact with Thinking Robot Studios to design a new, better looking leg using twenty-first century technology — 3D printing.
Ms. Hope-Simpson said she has always loved art and creating things that are beautiful. She wished for a more feminine looking leg because there are a lot of aspects in the mechanics of a prosthetic that don’t speak the language of femininity. As an artist designing her own replacement limb was an opportunity that she was deeply enthusiastic to find.
According to Thinking Robot Studios, they had a very limited time to produce this design which normally takes months to produce. When Natasha got her first look at the 3D printed prosthetic leg she designed, she says it was even better than she imagined. Ms. Hope-Simpson intends to keep researching and designing with Thinking Robot Studios, turning a terrible accident and cowardly incident into a truly inspirational positive.
