Elouise
Hi.
My name is Elouise and I am 10 years old.
When I was born my fingers hadn’t grown properly and I had what was called ‘symbracinydactyly’ and I had one long skinny thumb and 4 tiny baby fingers.
When I was 2 years old I had an operation at the Royal Children’s Hospital where Chris Coombs attached my 2nd toe from my left foot on to my left hand. They also cut down my baby fingers to stumps.
With my two-fingered hand, I can still ride my bike, skip with a skipping rope, play the piano, I love doing Callisthenics, swimming, tennis and I can do the monkey bars with my wrist.
My friends at school don’t care if my hand is different and everyone is different and I am different in a special way.
Being a part of Aussie Hands lets me meet other people like me and makes me feel like I am not the only one with different hands.
Elouise at 12
I have just started high school and have begun to do lots of new things. I play the trumpet in a band and I am in the swimming team. Having 2 fingers doesn’t make me much different from anyone else. I still like playing the piano, bike riding, playing games on the computer, cooking, surfing and sports activities such as tennis.
I like Aussie Hands because it makes you feel like you’re not the only one with a different hand and you get to make new friends.
Most of the time no one really realises anything about my hand because I can do nearly everything they can do. None of my friends care that I have a different hand and they are always really supportive.
These are my hands
