Quadruple amputee Memphis Lafferty, 12, somehow maneuvers the tiny screwdriver with his mouth to build the model skateboards.
Building miniature skateboards may require nimble fingers, but this Texas 12-year-old has mastered the skill despite the loss of his limbs to childhood meningitis.
While Memphis Lafferty, 12, of Texas has no hands, he somehow finds a way to maneuver tiny screwdrivers using his mouth to build miniature model skateboards no bigger than the size of a finger.
“He does everything a normal kid does — he just does it differently,” his dad, Chris Lafferty, told InsideEdition.com.
Lafferty, a single dad, explained that from riding skateboards on his stomach to learning how to get around on a hoverboard, Memphis has always had a fascination with skateboards.
When the 12-year-old asked for a Tech Deck Fingerboard kit for Christmas, Lafferty said he was doubtful.
“I’m a big guy, big hands, those things are tiny. I’m like, ‘I can’t build one, I don’t know what to tell you,’” he explained. “He was working with his friend and he just started building them. They’re watching football and he’s on it. I was sitting on the couch, watching him, and I’m like, ‘That’s amazing.’”
Lafferty explained his son had to learn to do everything his own way after a bout of meningitis when he was only 6 months old.
He said Memphis’ lips turned blue, and doctors assured them it was just a minor cold. But hours later, Lafferty said his son’s eyes started rolling into the back of his head.
“I rushed him to the children’s hospital and [doctors] were like, ‘Mr. Lafferty, your son has bacterial meningitis. He has 12 hours to live,'" he recalled.
Instead, Memphis spent three months in the ICU, and had to undergo a quadruple amputation.
But he eventually recovered, and despite the setbacks, Lafferty said he’s no different than other boys his age.
“He’s amazing at video games,” Lafferty said. “He’s not handicapped. His confidence is so big and strong that people see it. It glows from him.”
To donate to Memphis Lafferty's medical bills and future prosthetics, visit his website.
