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Ana Duarte

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Amputee creates prosthetic legs for physically disabled people

Wilfrid worked as a welder. During the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a wall of his garage collapsed and crushed his right leg. Because he was unable to get to a hospital soon enough, his knee became infected and so the doctors had to cut off most of his leg. This led him to become an amputee.

Woman creates life vest inspired by her refugee father

The device is equipped with a GPS. When submerged, the vest sends the user’s location to the nearest coast guard.

“I started imagining if, God forbid, I woke up to the news that my dad was drowned and no one was able to help him. What state would I be in?”, the inventor explained.

Wheelchair user invents gadget to make his wheelchair all-terrain

Huy contracted polio when he was a baby and because of that, he became a wheelchair user. For him, family activities at the beach were always a sad time.

"Ever since I was a kid, family activities on the beach have always brought not a great feeling because you didn't want to trouble people to carry you. A lot of wheelchair users don't consider the beach an accessible place for them, they have almost written that environment off”, he explained.

Student with food allergies develops low-cost bracelet to help people with the same condition

The bracelet has a QR code that leads to a website with information about the patient.

"In a medical emergency, let's say that you are allergic to peanuts and you accidentally consume your allergen go into anaphylactic shock and become unresponsive. Instead of someone standing over you and maybe having basic information like you need an EpiPen, you can scan this bracelet. So all you have to do is take a picture of it using your standard smartphone camera, and it will link you to a webpage that holds all sorts of information”, the inventor explained.

Veteran develops app to help other veterans with their mental health

Rey developed No Warriors Left Behind to help other veterans that, like him, struggle with PTSD, depression and anxiety.

He was able to deal with these issues on his own, however, because he knows that not everyone can, he decided to create a tool that would help others with their mental health.

And that’s how No Warriors Left Behind was born: a mobile app that connects vets with resources that can help them deal with PTSD.
"If I can save one veteran, my job is done," he expressed.

Grieving mother develops self-help app

The reality star, a former football player, wants Consy UK to be a tool that can help anyone with any kind of mental problem. “Since Baby Consy has died I have spent day and night creating the ultimate app with my team for you all. It is a bible for self-help, mental health, your body and soul. I’m hoping it can help someone that’s going through anything”, she explained.

Malin lost her mother in 2017 and a close friend in 2018. Malin admitted she contemplated suicide after the death of her newborn daughter.

Man creates online group to support men who deal with mental health issues

The group presents itself this way: “a group for MEN. We are here to support and encourage and help our fellow men. If you have had a struggle in life, if you have had or are having issues with addiction, we want you to talk to us. If you have lost someone you love, if you feel alone, if you are depressed or anxious we want to help. If you’re in debt or feel the world is caving in on you we want to help you.

Students build talking for their non-verbal friend

These students were in the 5th grade when they invented a talking vest that says a number of phrases to help their friend Justin, who is non-verbal. He communicates with others by using a tablet.

“When you touch the ground and then touch a button, it basically makes the noise and that’s how you can talk,” said Sarah, one of the kids involved in the project.

Man develops 3D printing prosthetic arm for people in poor countries

Guillermo was always curious about 3D printing and started creating his own devices in 2017 after he got his own 3D printer. He began watching tutorials on YouTube to know more about this technology so that he could start developing his own gadgets.

"I started making many 3D-printed hand prostheses for fun. Then I thought to myself, 'what if this can actually help someone?' I had already prepared my trip to Kenya and I contacted the NGO Bamba Project, as well as one of the orphanages that operate in Kenya. I didn't think I was going to find anyone”, he explained.

Team develops light 3D printing arm for amputee

A former technician, he lost all his limbs after having a plate of yusheng, a raw fish dish, which caused Group B Streptococcus infection that landed him in hospital. Because of that, he had his limbs amputee.

Woman with cerebral palsy develops online community

Katy started writing about her condition online in 2009, on her blog, then called TeenCP, which was rebranded to Cerebral Palsy Strong in 2017. She used her blog as an outlet and gained a loyal following of teenagers who were happy to find someone they could relate to, with the same problems.

Woman who struggled with depression creates dolls to help kids with self-esteem

Tiffany was depressed and even attempted suicide when she was 12 years old.

“Representation matters. A lot of times when we don’t see what we look like in media, it’s easy to think of yourself as lesser than”.

So, when she became an adult, she decided to design Super Beauty, a doll that looked more like she did when she was an adolescent. Tifanny has also written and illustrated a book series based on Super Beauty’s anti-bullying school adventures, to raise awareness and improve self-love and self-esteem.

Woman invents way to help her retrieve mail without having to walk to the street

"The last time I went, I tripped there and fell. If I picked my foot up that much further, I wouldn't have fallen and that's when I thought, ‘You better start looking for something’”, she recalled.

So the woman had the idea of building a pulley system with a clothesline running from her porch to the street, enabling her to get and send out her daily mail as the mailbox travels from one location to the other.

Betty had the system developed by Mark Wilcox, a landscaper who has been doing work at her house for many years.

Woman develops nanotech treatment that kills cancer cells

Hadiyah-Nicole was raised by her uncle and aunt, Lee Smith and Ora Lee after she was orphaned as a child. Both of her uncle and aunt died because of cancer.

After taking care of Ora, who died first, the professor tended to her uncle, having watched him suffer from the side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation, which, to her, seemed little better than what her aunt went through. The impact of chemo in the body led her to find a better treatment that would help to fight this condition.

Man creates 3D printing arm for himself

AJ had other prosthetic arms, however, he didn't really like the way they fit. So he decided to create a solution himself.

"I was born without a limb because the umbilical cord got caught up in the arm which affects the development for cells”, the student explained.

Using the 3D printing machines from his school and with the help of his instructor and the school's engineering club, he created the device after about five months designing it.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2lB3MEI

Woman creates special mattress to help babies with breathing problems

“My intention was to study but when I reached the UK, I saw an opportunity to work first so that I get some money for tuition. I, therefore, started working as a nanny in a home and this helped me raise money for fees,” she explained.

While working as a nanny, Jacqui realised that a lot of babies aged under six months had problems breathing while sleeping.

Father invents device to help mothers monitor fetal heartbeat at home

When David’s wife, Odelia, was pregnant with their third child, the couple was running from scurrying from one medical appointment to the next. This meant they had to arrange for babysitting, drive to the appointment, find parking, and wait for the actual fetal monitoring exam which took only several minutes – and then came another round of waiting for the physician to analyse results.

Scoliosis patient builds tool to help to measure his own condition from home

Konstantinos was diagnosed with scoliosis when he was in high school. This led him to come up with Kidemanager, a scientific aid to help him measure his condition. The aim of this solution is to replace conventional methods to spot scoliosis, namely x-rays.

Student invents helmet to alert the user in case of concussion

Adrian was a football player until he was diagnosed with pediatric epilepsy. According to the doctors, it was caused by an undetected concussion.

This led the boy to create a helmet that can alert a player in case he has a head injury.

His diagnosis inspired the student to come up with a helmet that's able to alert a player to a possible head injury.

Student develops a speaker for deaf musicians to create and experience music physically

The speak he developed, has a spherical shape resembles an upside-down speaker. It works by helping to transfer vibrations from the amp to the player’s feet. It can be built into the body of a guitar amp and see the player stand on top to feel the vibrations of the music.

It has the goal to build on that even further by helping the sound travel through the player’s body, helping them connect with the music.

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