A young girl, born with one hand, was able to play the violin thanks to a heartwarming act of kindness by a mechanic.
Valerie Romero is a fourth-grader at St. Johns Middle School in Arizona and due to having only one hand, she was finding it hard to play the violin, like the rest of her classmates.
When, Nate Kellogg’s children came home from school and told him about how Romero’s disability was coming in the way of playing the violin, and that she could only practice the fingering of the notes, but not play like everyone else. He knew he had to find a way to help her.
He started to check his tools at work and asked his coworkers for help on the project. “I got to talking to the guys at work, and there is an instrument holder that would work perfect. It was already made and something you could buy online,” Kellogg said.
He then started working to create a working prosthesis which would work around the instrument holder. “I did some research online and figured out what to do, but I didn’t have the tools to do what [prosthesis makers] do. So, I did the next best thing. When I was in the military, there was this stuff called thermoplastic and that would mold to her arm.”
As Romero grows, the prosthetic would need to be updated, but for the moment it would be perfect. Due to it, Romero has been able to play the violin alongside her classmates for the holiday concert. “I just think this is amazing,” Romero’s orchestra teacher Ruthie Price said. “For this little girl, it’s really something.”
It’s amazing how Nate Kellogg was able to use his technical skills to bless a little girl with a much needed prosthetic hand to be able to play the violin perfectly and do a lot of things she could not do before.
