5.56 - The One with the Carbon Fiber Legs

Here's a feel good story:

In 2005, Ellie May Challis lost all of her limbs to meningitis. In 2009, she's become the youngest person ever fitted with carbon fiber legs.

Her original prostheses never fit perfectly, causing her pain and great difficulty when walking. So, with the financial help of their community, Ellie May's parents took her to Dorset Orthopaedic where doctors designed an extra small pair of carbon fiber legs—the same type of prostheses used by Olympic sprinters—costing about $15,000.

She'll need a new pair of legs every two years as she grows up.

But while doctors were originally worried that she'd have a tough time balancing on her new limbs, Ellie May is moving twice as fast as she did before. And as one specialist put it, "Within seconds of having them on, she was off. It will change her life."

[Echo via Neatorama]

I think this is pretty awesome. Look how happy she is...

[via Gizmodo]