Friday, April 5, 2013

A Sweet "Spica" Chair Modeled After Disney's Monorail

When Epbot reader Katie J.'s little niece Hannah recently had double hip surgery, she needed something called a Spica Chair - a specially designed seat for young children in plaster casts. Since the whole family loves Disney, Hannah's dad got together with a friend to build little Hannah something positively magical:

 
PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE AWESOME. 
POR FAVOR MANTENGASE "THE AWESOME."

Yep, they based the chair on Disney's monorails! More specifically, on a Disney pop-up book that Hannah's mom has had since she was little:

They made it as a surprise for both Hannah and her mom, who I can only imagine was just as thrilled.

Hannah's dad built the chair/desk combo, and his friend Keith handled all the painting. In fact, you can head over to Keith's blog for more photos, including in-process pics!


I just love seeing how fans incorporate their passions into even the most necessary and potentially un-fun things in life. Mega kudos to Hannah's dad and Keith for the gorgeous work, and for making this big beautiful smile possible:

 D'awww. 

(And hey, a chalkboard desktop? So smart!)

14 comments:

  1. that is beautiful! I can't believe how talented some parents are. : ) (being the untalented kind myself)

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  2. What a great idea! You can use it even after she gets better. Hannah is very cute too!

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  3. That is really cool! I kinda want one :)

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  4. Brilliant! Kid looks like she's having so much fun with it too. I would be tempted to do a Captain Christopher Pike thing with a little beep-thing and blinking lights... but I lack the creativity. (Speak of, did you see that thing on Basic Instructions- Ask Capt. Pike?)

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  5. So cute!
    And what a fun way to help a kid feel less like she's a patient :)
    ~erin kristine

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  6. Hee, Jen, your Spanish left out the "away from" so it actually sort of says, "Please stay awesome." Which is, you know, awesome. :)

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  7. Awwww! And wow, late 1980s Flashback. Good times.

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  8. This post had me searching spica chairs and hip dysplasia, and it turns out creating customized and personalized spica chairs is not uncommon. You wouldn't believe some of the amazing chairs out there - orca whales and flying pigs, lemon slices and watermelon slices, footballs and teapots, yorkies and pink poodles, My Little Ponies and carousel horses, castles and dragons . . . Many chairs are not custom cut for a novelty shape, but still sport gorgeous and creative designs, like English gardens.

    If I had had double-hip surgery and was in a torso-leg cast which prevented me from being able to sit upright on my own for weeks on end, this is the chair I would want to spend those weeks in.

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  9. My son broke his femur when he was 4 years old and had to have a spica cast that went up to his underarms. It was horrible because the fiberglass cast rubbed mine and my husbands arms raw when we had to carry him around, our solution was to wrap the whole thing in the tape used to cover fiberglass hockey sticks. :D It comes in really cool patterns and was the only tape we found that would actually stick to the cast. He was only in it for four weeks thankfully and we just used his regular stroller without the lap tray bar attached and it was fine, although we did have to rent a special car seat for it.

    Here's a link to the covered cast, he loved it and I got so many compliments on it too. :D
    http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/flowerchilde/100_1759.jpg

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  10. What a sweet post.

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  11. On a similar note, have you seen the AT-AT child's walker? Someone posted this recently on my Facebook.
    http://offbeatfamilies.com/2013/04/star-wars-walker-for-child

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  12. This is too precious. The chalkboard top is indeed genius!

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  13. Goodness! How did I miss that you shared this?! :O (The comment will say anonymous, but this is the gal who sent you the pictures. :) ) It was actually Hannah's *uncle* (Andrew) and our friend Keith who put the chair together. :) But thanks for the re-share!

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