When Adam Cutshall was in his mid 20s, he was building a mini golf course for his when a bit of carelessness with power tools caused an injury to his pinky finger which was ultimately amputated. Now 47, Adam has been repeatedly denied insurance over the years to get a prosthetic finger, which can cost up to $20,000 if paid out of pocket. As a last resort, Adam decided to get help from social media and a Good Samaritan offered to help.
‘I’m an amputee and I don’t have insurance that will cover a prosthesis. Would someone print one for me?’”
69 year old Paul Hodara developed interest in 3D printing back in 2020. When he saw Adam’s post on Reddit, he offered help. Paul did mention to Adam that he has no background in medicine or prosthetics but he would give it a shot. Then began a journey they took together – designing a model, looking at revisions every week, ands ultimately creating a prototype that worked well for Adam. They continued to work on another 20 prototypes till they agreed on a final version.