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When my second son Dave was born in 1999, amongst the joy of having a second son, part of me was saddened by his right hand missing his three middle fingers. When Dave was 4 months old we met with a hand surgeon who told us that his condition was called ‘symbrachydactyly’. Dave had a hand operation when he was 10 months. His thumb had a lower bone missing, so a bone was taken out of his right middle toe and fused into his thumb. I decided to start a local Aussie support group for people with hand differences, as most hand support groups were located either in the UK or USA. By 2005, a website was established and since then membership has been slowly increasing around Australia. Every year, the Foundation organises various events nationally which brings so many new families together to share their inspirational stories.”
About Us
Aussie Hands provides support, information and encouragement to people born with a hand difference and their families.
Aussie Hands achieves this through
• Supporting individuals with a hand difference, their families and community
• Providing opportunities for connection, networking and sharing of information
• Raising awareness and celebrating achievements of people with a hand difference
• Supporting research into hand differences.
Aussie Hands is a co-founder of the Australian Hand Difference Register (AHDR). The AHDR is managed by researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and is now functioning at major children’s hospitals across Australia. The purpose of the AHDR is to find out how many children are born with hand differences in Australia, learn more about causes and help plan future support services.
Aussie Hands is nation-wide with over 800 active members. Our members are children and adults with hand differences and their families and communities, volunteers, donors and health professionals.