If there’s a guy who knows a thing or two about robotic appendages, it’s Luke Skywalker. Like his father before him, Mark Hamill’s Star Wars character lost his hand in battle and had to get a robotic replacement. Another person who needed a prosthetic arm was a young Star Wars fan named Bella. She received an R2-D2 Hero Arm and earned the stamp of approval from none other than Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. Take a look:
First off, how great is Mark Hamill? The actor and Star Wars icon continues to prove time and time again that he is a genuinely good guy, being the hero for many on Earth that Luke Skywalker is for the residents of a galaxy far, far away. He also seems to understand the importance of his most iconic role and how much Star Wars means to people like young Bella seen here.
Bella Tadlock is an 11-year-old amputee from Florida who was born without her hand. Last year she launched a crowdfunding campaign to help pay for the multi-grip prosthetic. That campaign was aided when Mark Hamill tweeted about it. After the success of the campaign, Bella got her arm and Mark Hamill made sure to reach out over Skype to congratulate the young Star Wars fan.
Mark Hamill was clearly happy for Bella, and the girl herself was obviously stoked to have the arm and to hear from Mark Hamill. And seriously, how cool is that arm? It's an R2-D2 Hero Arm made for Bella by Open Bionics, a UK-based prosthetics company that specializes in 3D-printed bionic arms featuring stylish designs and character themes.
The Hero Arm covers are swappable and available in Disney designs including Frozen, BB-8 and, of course, Iron Man. Bella got something special though. BB-8 is great and all, but Bella clearly recognized that the superior droid is R2-D2. She liked his patterns and the fact that he was around since the beginning, so she got that new design for her Hero Arm.
How appropriate it is then that Bella got to talk to R2-D2’s owner and BFF Luke Skywalker. Bella shares another similarity with Luke Skywalker in that they were both adopted. So it’s pretty clear why a fictional character such as Luke Skywalker would mean so much to a kid like Bella.
It might not be the kind of thing most of us would think about, but Luke Skywalker may be extra special to Star Wars fans with limb differences given his journey in the films that saw his hand cut off by Darth Vader and replaced with a robotic one. Knowing this, Mark Hamill also participated in a video for Open Bionics, letting kids with limb differences know that they can do whatever they want, and Luke losing his hand didn’t stop him from becoming the savior of the galaxy.
There are no Star Wars movies coming out this year, but there are plenty of other movies to look forward to. Check them out in our 2020 Release Schedule.
