11-year-old Texas boy born without hand realizes dream of playing violin

Kevin Vasquez, of San Antonio, was born without his left hand. On Oct. 19, a group of teachers at Villarreal Elementary School gave the fifth-grader a device they built, which will allow him to play the violin, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Kevin started learning to play the instrument at the beginning of the school year. His music teacher, Mary Ellen Fimbel, found a template online that could be created on a 3D printer and help Kevin master the instrument, KENS-TV reported.

Fimbel asked Sandra Welzenbach, the school's librarian, to see if she could use the school’s 3D printer, the television station reported.

"Once I looked at the information that was on the website, there was a lot more involved, including the flex material, which I couldn't do on our school printer," Welzenbach told KENS.

Welzenbach reached out to other educators in the Northside Independent School District, and grants coordinator Kyle Baker answered the call.

"I looked at it and I saw some areas that I thought the design could be improved to function a little bit better," Baker told KENS. "So I took (the) design and then modified it."

After 150 hours of work, Baker and his team created an apparatus that allows Kevin to draw the bow across the violin.

"It was very emotional," Welzenbach told KENS. "For 10 years, he'd gone without, and just by providing him this apparatus, he now can participate in music, which is something he just loves."

Baker said he and his team were proud to give Kevin more opportunities.

“I love to see the world as a better place,” Baker told the television station. “If you can make a difference in someone's life, if you can make someone's life better, then do it.”

Kevin, who said he wants to be a police officer when he grows up, was touched by the educators' efforts.

“Thank you for helping me, because this makes me a new life, a better one,” Kevin said.

"He is a kid that is such an example of perseverance," Welzenbach told KENS. "You know, he's been born without the hand, and yet he didn't let that stop him."