Kenzie's Helping Hands

Meet Valentina, Notre Dame e-NABLE’s newest device recipient! I first met Valentina at SheLift in 2019, and as the Freshman Representative for our e-NABLE club, I thought she would be a perfect fit for our program. Over this semester, our student volunteers will design and fabricate a free prosthesis for her. To start this process, I met up with Valentina and her mom to discuss what she wants in a prosthesis. Currently, she wants to improve on riding her bicycle and requested we decorate her new device with butterflies. 

After meeting Valentina and her mom in Utah, I learned that they live in Washington! I was so excited to tell them I only live an hour away, and that my high school soccer team would be traveling to Washington for a game two weeks later! Not only did Valentina get to watch my game, she was also able to walk out with my team and participate in our team break before the game. She was wearing a T-shirt that read “BFF 25”, which was the cutest! My team loved meeting her, and she was so happy we won the game for her.

SheLift was nothing short of awesome! I met up with my best friend Lily and a dozen other limb different women in Utah! We tried adaptive yoga, archery, rock climbing, hiking, and a ropes course. I got to meet so many incredible women, and I’m so thankful for the experience. Lily and I dressed up as pirates for the costume party and won “Best Duo”!