Katelyn Vincik is a 5-year-old girl who lives in Texas with her loving family.
Katelyn is just like any other little girl her age, with one exception: she was born with part of her lower left arm missing.
Her mother, Kimberly, tells ABC News that Katelyn had been unable to receive a prosthetic limb for almost a year now with her name sitting on a wait list.
However, determined to help her daughter lead a full, normal life, Kimberly decided to take action instead. She turned to one of the most unlikely places imaginable — the library.
The nearby Harris County Public Library is home to a state-of-the-art 3D printer, and Kimberly wanted to know if it'd be possible for them to create a prosthetic for her daughter.
Patrick Ferrell, who works in the library's Innovation Lab, tells the Washington Post, "We were confident that we could make one. We'd just never done it before."
Keep scrolling below to see how the incredible folks at this library changed young Katelyn's life for the better.
[H/T: Washington Post, ABC News]
When Kimberly Vincik approached the Harris County Public Library about creating a prosthetic for her daughter Katelyn, they were cautiously optimistic that it could be done.
Patrick Ferrell of the library's Innovation Lab tells the Washington Post, "I had full confidence in our ability to make it, but at the same time, here's this 5-year-old girl who's been promised a new hand. To let her down was going to be — I didn't want to let her down. None of us did."
Using a prosthetic design from a volunteer group known as Enabling the Future, they set to work 3D printing the new arm. The entire printing process took 22 hours.
Then, the big moment came. Katelyn unwrapped her new arm and put it on.
Katelyn's mom tells ABC News, "She is a very happy child, but let's just say she has never smiled so big in her life."
"Her face lit up with pure and utter happiness. It was a priceless moment to say the least."
Ferrell describes the reaction of everyone around Katelyn to the Washington Post, "I'm a big guy and no one wants to see a 350-pound man start crying in the middle of the party, so I tried to hold it together.
"But I could see there was some emotion in the room at the time."
Thanks to the amazing work of the community, the folks at the Harris County Public Library, and Katelyn's family, she now has the joy of being able to use her arm just like any other girl her age.
Ferrel tells ABC News, "She put it on like she knew what she was doing, and then she told her sister, 'Now we can hold hands.'"
Watch the video below, and let us know what you think of this stunning story in the comments.
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