A special gel that was designed to help a disabled dolphin has been repurposed in order to help a girl who has lost one of her legs. The dolphin is featured in a movie that will be released in theaters soon, and the girl is living in California with her adopted family. It always amazes me when people are able to adapt things so that they can help kids who have special needs.
“Winter” is the name of a bottlenose dolphin that lives in the Clearwater Marine Aquarium that is located in Clearwater, Florida. When Winter was three months old, she was caught in a blue crap trap in Mosquito Lagoon, (which is located off the coast of Florida). She was rescued by a team from SeaWorld, and brought to the Aquarium for help. The dolphin survived, but ended up being left with a stump instead of a tail.
At first, it was believed that Winter would not be able to learn how to swim. Winter was trying to swim by moving from side to side, instead of moving up and down (the way she was supposed to). There was concern that she would injure her spine by swimming that way.
A company named Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics spent over a year creating a new tail for Winter. It was made out of silicone and plastic. A “sleeve” of a specially made gel was put over Winter’s skin, to prevent the prosthetic tail from causing irritation. The gel is called “WintersGel”. Winter learned how to swim, and has become the subject of a soon to be released movie called “Dolphin Tale”.
A twelve year old girl named Megan McKeon is being helped by the gel that was originally made for Winter the Dolphin. Megan currently lives in California, but was born in Latvia. When she was five months old, her mother dropped a lit cigarette into her daughter’s crib, and then passed out from alcohol. This caused Megan’s legs to be badly burned. She survived, but ended up losing most of her left leg.
Megan was adopted by Mark McKeon and his wife Susan, (who are Americans), when Megan was eleven months old. Megan got her first prosthetic leg when she was four years old, but found it to be very uncomfortable and awkward to use. She decided to use forearm crutches instead.
In 2009, Megan and her family attended a sports event for disabled athletes. Kevin Caroll, the Vice President of Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics was in the crowd. He met Megan, and decided to use WintersGel to create a more comfortable prosthetic leg for Megan.
She is now one of the very first people to use WintersGel. She uses it with two different prosthetic legs. One has a springy metal “foot”, (and is designed for running), and the other has a jointed “knee”, (and is designed for mobility). The gel creates a suction against the skin, which holds the prosthetic firmly in place. The gel can be easily removed when needed.
Image by Matt Kieffer on Flickr