Prosthetic prototype wrapped in the arms of love

There are many things Beaufort’s Tom Mullins can do.

Drive.

Type.

Play softball.

None of which seem like a big deal.

Unless you factor in this: Mullins, 53, was born with only one arm.

Now, he’s adding one more thing to the list.

Kayaking.

For that, he can thank his own sense of determination - and his son Dustin.

Growing up, Dustin, a recent USC graduate, saw his father manage things as well or better than people with two arms. Witnessing all that may have influenced his decision to earn his degree in the growing field of biomedical engineering.

But the design for a prosthetic arm purposely made for kayaking is mostly his own.

When Dustin’s fellow engineering students needed a model for their prosthetic arm to complete their senior project, he knew just who to to call.

Tom answered but was skeptical.

“When I agreed to be the model, I didn’t realize I’d actually have to get myself into a kayak,” he said. “It’s not that I didn’t think I could. It’s just that I’d never been interested in kayaking or canoeing before.”

Dustin knew he could count on his dad to offer himself up in the name of helping others. It’s another reason Dustin studied what he did - the desire to help give life back to people struggling to overcome the loss of a limb.

Dustin and his team got to work building an arm that would better mimic the motion of what someone kayaking Category 4 rapids and local Atlantic whitecaps would do. That included calculating wrist articulation and other engineering terms most of us wouldn’t understand.

Tom understood - the practicalities if not the technical terms - because he last wore a prosthetic arm in high school. He found them too bulky and immobile. It was easier, he decided, to learn to do without it and find his own way.

Since then, prosthetics have come a long way.

The prototype arm Dustin and his team built for kayaking is a big step along that path.

When first fitted with it, Tom was amazed by the difference in its weight and agility.

“I was blown away by how well it worked and how good it felt,” he said.

His first outing with the arm resulted in a trip down the Saluda River in Columbia, where he had to remind Dustin that his test model wasn’t exactly a world-class athlete. Still, Tom completed the trip and left the future engineers with enough feedback to head back to the lab and make the necessary adjustments for other users.

Now, the arm’s design has moved from the lab to the filing office for a provisional patent. Dustin’s vision - and Tom’s experiences - could eventually allow multitudes of kayakers - maybe even some on the Beaufort River - to reclaim a favorite part of their lives after losing a limb.

If that was the only result of this project, it would be enough.

But it’s not.

Dustin called his father a “big factor” in the entire venture from conception to reality.

And you can feel the immense pride in Tom’s voice when he talks about his son.

What’s obvious is this: The father has long been the son’s hero.

Now the father has a hero of his own.

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 6:59 AM with the headline "Prosthetic prototype wrapped in the arms of love."