24th December 2025
DJ had no idea he was getting a new arm for his ninth birthday, just a few days before Christmas.
Born with a left below-elbow limb difference, DJ is naturally curious, quick to joke, and is excited to talk about Pokémon or Fortnite. His favorite stuffed animal is a well-worn giraffe named Jeffrey that he has carried with him since he was a baby. On the day of his birthday, his mom, Racquel, picked him up after cupcakes at school and told him to guess where they were headed, offering no explanation beyond that.
When they pulled up to the clinic, it clicked.
“We’re gonna see Ian?” DJ asked.
Ian Reyes is a certified prosthetist at our Atlanta clinic, where DJ had recently been fitted for his first myoelectric prosthetic device, a Hero Arm.
The timing of the delivery appointment was no coincidence. As soon as Racquel learned that DJ’s arm had arrived so close to his birthday, she scheduled the appointment as a surprise.
“He didn’t even know we were going,” she said. “I just picked him up after school and said, ‘Guess where we are.’”
Inside the clinic, Ian had written DJ’s name on a whiteboard and wrapped the new bionic arm in Santa-themed wrapping paper. DJ tore through it quickly. Once the arm was on, he began moving the fingers almost immediately, opening and closing his hand and rotating his wrist as he watched it respond to the muscles in his arm.
“It was easier than I thought,” DJ said. Within minutes of receiving the arm, he started reaching for things around him. The first thing he grabbed was a Pikachu stuffed animal, another birthday gift.
“He put it on for a little bit when we got home and was still playing around with it,” Racquel said later. “I know Ian said about thirty minutes a day at first to get acclimated, but he just wanted to keep trying it.”
Moments like this were exactly why Racquel pursued a prosthesis for her son in the first place.
“I just wanted him to have it as a tool,” she said. “Something that would give him the option to do more.”
DJ had always been capable and independent in his own way, and she didn’t want the arm to change who he was or pressure him to wear it constantly. She wanted it available to him, something he could choose when it made sense.
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“The whole experience was 10/10!” Racquel shared in an online review. “I’m so grateful for Ian and all his help. My son is so happy to have his Hero arm and the opportunity to do a lot more for himself. Can’t thank them enough!”
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Racquel first learned about Open Bionics at a Lucky Fin Project event, where she had taken DJ so he could meet other kids with limb differences and feel comfortable around peers with shared experiences.
“I wanted him to just be around kids like him,” she said. “To know that he has a community.”
At the time, DJ wasn’t sure he wanted to try a prosthetic at all. He was used to his body as it was. Raquel encouraged him to look anyway, to ask questions, and to take in the experience without pressure.
Hero Arm is a lightweight and fun myoelectric prosthesis for children.
“I told him, ‘You should give it a try. It can’t hurt to just try it out,’” she said.
The process moved forward more smoothly than she expected. Their health insurance plan through her work covered the arm without question.
“It was approved immediately,” Raquel said. “There was no denial. No back and forth. That part honestly went really smoothly. I just wanted him to have something that could help when he wanted it. If there are tools that can help him excel in any way, I’m always going to be open to that.”
Later that day, when they returned home, DJ put the arm back on again without being prompted and went looking for Jeffrey, his stuffed animal giraffe. “I grabbed my favorite stuffy,” he said.
When asked what he wanted to try next with his new arm, DJ said, “build a volcano,” then reconsidered. “Or eat a cheeseburger.”
It’s a Hero Arm, after all.
“The whole experience was 10/10!” Racquel shared in an online review. “I’m so grateful for Ian and all his help. My son is so happy to have his Hero arm and the opportunity to do a lot more for himself. Can’t thank them enough!”
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