Injured Indianapolis Girl Gets Early Birthday Present

The Indianapolis girl who lost her left hand when a bomb exploded at a K mart store is learning to make necklaces and hair bows with an artificial hand, her mother says.

The high-tech prosthetic hand came as an early birthday present for Erin Bower, who turns 6 today.

Erin received the electrically-powered hand at Medical Center Prosthetics in Houston last week and is participating in a three-week training program to help her use it.

“I don’t think she’ll ever forget this birthday. It’s because of her hand. She loves her hand,” Erin’s mother, Maureen, said in a telephone interview with the Indianapolis Star.

Maureen Bower planned a birthday celebration for Erin, who was injured April 17 when a bomb went off as she picked up a package of toothpaste at the K mart store in Castleton. The case remains under investigation.

Maureen Bower said that when Erin put on her electrically-powered hand for the first time, she said, “Mommy, I wish I could have my other hand back.”

“I said, ‘Erin, I do, too,’ ” Bower recalled. “She said, ‘It’s too bad we just can’t grow one.’ I told her, ‘I wish we could, but we can’t.’ Then Erin said, ‘Well, this arm isn’t bad, I like this arm, too.’

Erin undergoes two hours of therapy a day to learn how to use the hand, which is activated by nerve impulses in Erin’s left arm. The electrical current released by those muscles is picked up by electrodes in the artificial hand, causing it to move as Erin desires.

Bower said the therapy has been fun for her daughter.

“They know she loves arts-and-crafty kind of things. She’s made bead necklaces. She’s made hair bows, so she’ll learn to tie. She’s played cards. They have a bow and arrow with a plunger at the end, and she’s learned to do that.”

Maureen Bower has been told it will be at least six months before Erin starts using her artificial hand with the same confidence and reflexes as the old one.

She said the training program has also helped her daughter psychologically because she sees other children who have lost limbs.

“It helps Erin to put her own problems in perspective. And me, too,” Maureen Bower said. “What happened to Erin, we’re kind of lucky she’s even here with us.”