Charity founder inspires design of new surfing prosthetic
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The new type of prosthetic arm ‘Nicole’ is in honour of Nicole Brennan, who was born with a congenital limb difference meaning that her right arm did not fully develop before birth.
Nicole launched the IAMPOSSIBLE Foundation in 2019, it is one of the only disabled-led charities for those with limb differences in the UK.
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Hide AdThrough #ProjectLimitlessUK Koalaa and Douglas Bader Foundation raises funds to provide every upper limb different child in the UK a prosthetic.
Nicole, 31, said: "I reached out to the founder of Koalaa, Nate Macabuag, we soon realised that our values were aligned. We wanted to ensure that everyone had access to the correct tools to approach a task/activity with ease whilst knocking down the barriers that those with limb differences face. Since then I have become a huge fan of their prosthetics and use mine for pushing my buggy, surfing, yoga and cutting hair after becoming a lockdown barber.”
The new surfing prosthetic has been developed by UK startup Koalaa, which aims to make prosthetics comfortable, affordable and accessible.
Knowing that surfing was something many people within the limb difference community were keen to try and that ‘popping-up’ onto the board was a key challenge, they set about creating a solution.
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Hide AdThe Nicole Tool attaches to the current Koalaa prosthetic in order to give a platform that will both provide grip and balance to the user.
Having worked closely with the design team at Koalaa, Nicole joined a group of limb different surfers from across the UK to put the new prosthetic through its paces at The Wave, an inland-surfing destination in Bristol .
Nicole said: “It was incredible to hit the waves with a group of limb different adults and children. Seeing everyone smash it using their Nicole Tool and being able to stand on the board myself was a huge moment for me. Being a part of making surfing accessible for people like me means the world.
"I'm so grateful to the team at Koalaa Soft Prosthetics and The Wave for all that they are doing to empower individuals with disabilities to approach activities without barriers.”