Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Real River Queen

A New Zealand woman with no legs is having a mermaid's tail made to help her swim.

Nadya Vessey, from Auckland, is having the tail made by the company behind the special effects in Lord of the Rings and King Kong.

She was born with a condition that meant her legs would never develop properly, reports the Stuff news website.

She began swimming after she had her first leg amputated at seven. Despite having her other leg amputated at 16, she swam competitively in high school and now swims as often as she can.

The tail will be moulded on to a pair of wetsuit shorts to make it easy to put on and take off. Vessey says it will allow her to propel herself through the water as if she was a mermaid.

Ms Vessey, who is in her 50s, came across Weta Workshop's prosthetic department one night while surfing the internet.

She decided to email them her idea about a tail "just to put the idea out there" and, much to her surprise, their reply was immediate.

Weta was excited about the challenge and offered to donate its staff time and expertise to make the tail if Vessey could cover the costs of the materials, which she did with a grant from a charity.

"I began to feel a bit embarrassed about it. But then everybody else got so excited so I thought: "Oh, I'll just go with it and see what happens"," she said.

Ms Vessey asked Weta to make the tail practical and beautiful. They told her not to worry that they would even put scales on it.

"So I really have no idea what to expect but it's going to be fun," she said.
Posted by Ajay :: 5:53 PM :: 0 comments

Post a Comment

---------------oOo---------------