With new prosthetic hand comes new-found confidence for one girl - FOX 35 News Orlando

It's a story that has been two months in the making, about a fourth-grader who, just before Christmas, asked mom for the nearly impossible: a hand.

The young girl was born without a full hand due to a birth defect, and when you and others saw her story...well....you made the impossible happen.

Fox 35's Tracy Jacim walks down the halls of Tampa Bay's Shriners Hospital for Children and asks nine-year-old Katherine Reed if she's excited.   Katherine nods and smiles...big.

What a difference two months can make.

When we first met Katherine, she walked self-consciously hiding the stunted hand she calls Daisy behind her back, and shyly telling us about her heartache on the school bus day after day.

She said, "I was like on the bus...and some kids were like...laughing at my hand."  Jacim asked, "And how'd that make you feel?"  Katherine answered, "Sad."  "And what did you do...what did you say?"  "I didn't do nothing...I...I sit on my seat and started crying."

But it was that moment that brought us to this one:   the moment she gets a prosthetic gloved hand...the moments she gets her confidence back.

Prosthetic orthotist Janet Marshall walks into the exam room with a big smile and describes the process of creating Katherine's hand.

"The last time we took a mold of her hand, Marshall explains...I took that mold and then I poured it with plaster so I had a duplicate of her hand....like that."

But it was actually a Shriner all the way in Richmond, Virginia that got us here.

Back in November, Katherine's mom, Analda, shared Katherine's Christmas wish, "So, finally she said, 'May I have it for Christmas?'   I said, I'm going to try."

That first story aired on Fox stations across the country, and ACCA Shriner John Larson saw it and called me.  He said we had to work with the Shriners and get Katherine her hand. At the same time, many of you saw the story, and Katherine's teacher who had started a Facebook page to raise money to get Katherine a prosthetic.

And when Shriners came through free of charge, Katherine's mom Analda immediately made plans for the money raised:   she'll put it into a college fund, or possibly a medical fund in case Katherine ever decides to have surgery and get an actual robotic prosthetic hand, which often happens in time.

But for now..here we are.

Back to the moment this little girl has waited for...the moment she gets her Christmas wish.

When Marshall slides it over Katherine's stunted hand she asks Katherine how it feels.  Katherine, with a confident smile and nod, says "Good!"

Jacim doesn't need to ask this but she does just to be sure, "So, Katherine, I see big smile there.  Are you happy?"   Katherine:  "Yes!"  Jacim:  "Are you excited to go to school now?"  Katherine:  "Yes!."  Jacim:  "No more worries about the other kids at school?"  Katherine:  "No!"  Jacim:  "What are you guys doing next?"  Katherine:  I'm gonna go visit my teacher!"

And that says it all...and so does what follows.

Katherine's mom grabs her daughter and hugs her, laughing and crying simultaneously.   Then she does the same to everyone in the room.   

And that, is the perfect way for this story to end.