11-Year-Old With Star Wars-Themed Bionic Arm Tagged As 'Hero' By Mark Hamill

Isabella Tadlock, an 11-year-old from Florida, was born without fingers on her right hand and with her left arm ending in a “nub.” She was also a Star Wars fan. The little girl decided to use her favorite movie as inspiration for her R2-D2 designed bionic arm.

Tadlock’s disability made chores such as picking up things or grasping objects with her fingers a challenge. Multiple surgeries solved the problem on her right hand by grafting three fingers and a thumb to it. Meanwhile, her left arm remained a hopeless case until the Star Wars-inspired bionic arm came. That, however, was not the highlight of her story.

CNN reported that reel- and real-life hero Mark Hamill, who played the Jedi Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movie series, saw the Tallahassee girl’s tweet about her fundraising for her new arm. Never one to shy away from helping, Hamill did what he could do — he shared the tweet to his 3.6 million followers, along with a link for those who wanted to donate to her fundraising. At the time, Tadlock had already received about $14,000 from her donors.

Aside from helping her raise funds for the bionic arm, Hamill also sent her passes to Disney World when the actor called Tadlock to check on her new R2-D2 arm. He praised the young Star Wars fan for being a real-life hero and shared that they called the bionic arm, “hero arm.”

Tadlock isn’t the only lucky recipient of the actor’s acts of charity, Hamill, according to Look to the Stars, has always been active in his charity works. He has been a supporter of the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, donating his fees from his appearance at the Dark Horse Comic Con to help in the hospital’s new construction. He has also visited patients at the hospital on different occasions.