News Child Leg Prosthetics

Click here to see little Tyler's story on the National TV Show, Life and Style.

Click here to view Kitty using her new arm for the first time!

Pediatrics Prosthetics Incorporated was featured on The Discovery Channel. Click here to see to see what they had to say about our work.
(Right Click link and "Save Target As" to copy to hard drive.)

Gesture reaches around the world

Houston couple's generosity gives child an artificial arm

By MELANIE MARKLEY
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Kitty Tsomaia darted around the waiting room like any 2-year-old, picking up toys scattered on the floor and grabbing hold of her mother and father with a mischievous grin. The scene once seemed unlikely for Kitty, who was born with an underdeveloped left arm. Her parents searched desperately for an answer, and found one in Houston. Now, after flying here from halfway around the world, seeing their daughter laughing and using her new artificial arm with its lifelike hand was nothing short of a miracle." For us, it was like a gift from God," said Kitty's mom, Theona Shulaia, who was with her daughter and her husband, Peter Tsomaia, at Pediatric Prosthetics, a new business owned by Ken and Linda Bean.

Ken Bean learned about Kitty's plight while searching for Web sites about families with children who had lost a limb. Bean wanted to invite the children to a summer camp. Kitty's grandmother had created such a site, explaining that the girl had been born with a left arm that ended just below the elbow. The family from Georgia was seeking answers and any help they could find. Bean, whose wife makes artificial arms for children, told Kitty's mother that since the family lived in Georgia, there would be no problem flying there and fitting the child. But there was a problem. Kitty and her parents lived in the country of Georgia, part of the former Soviet Republic.

Linda Bean at first asked Kitty's mother, who is a pediatrician and dermatologist in Tbilisi, Georgia, to make a plaster casting of the girl's arm so she could design a basic passive-hand prosthesis for the child. The arm fit perfectly, but there was no way for Kitty to flex the hand.

Buster Dean / Chronicle

Kitty Tsomaia, a 2-year-old from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, undergoes physical therapy in Houston.

Buster Dean / Chronicle

Ken and Linda Bean of Pediatric Prosthetics flew Kitty and her family here and fitted her with a $25,000 prosthetic arm.

The girl's parents -- as well as Ken and Linda Bean -- wanted to get her a myoelectric arm, which permits the hand to open and close when signals from a person's nervous system activate sensors in the arm. They wanted Kitty to become adept at using two hands at an early age. But there was still a problem. To accomplish that, Linda Bean would need to see Kitty, and the girl would require therapy to learn how to use the hand. Although both Kitty's parents are professionals in their country, they couldn't afford the flight. Nor could they afford the high-tech prosthesis. The Beans, who were just opening their own business, made a decision. They would fly the family to Houston and, at the company's expense, fit her with the $25,000 arm." Our stockholders were thrilled to death to do it," said Bean. "But the real story here is a committed set of parents who said, `We'll do whatever is necessary for our child to have the best future God could give her.' "

On Thursday, the first day Kitty got her new arm, she used it to pluck a toy from an outstretched hand. For everyone in the room, it was an emotional moment. "I was crying," said her mother, who explained through an interpreter that she had contacted prosthetic specialists in her country but none was willing to fit Kitty until she turned 6.

Linda Bean, who has even fit infants with artificial arms, said many people don't realize what can be done prosthetically for young children who tend to adapt quickly.

As Kitty grows, the arm has to be replaced, but the Beans hope that can done without requiring more overseas trips. The replacement arms won't be as expensive, they say, because only the forearm and socket have to be enlarged every year. The hand lasts about three years, and some of the computer components last even longer.

Pausing to watch as Kitty used both of her hands to unwrap a piece of gum that her father had given her, Linda Bean said it's rewarding to know she could help the little girl and her family from Georgia.

"After meeting them, it was just really joyful," said Linda Bean. "I just felt wonderful I could do this for them."