Bucks County mom has new robotic arm thanks to occupational therapy team at Widener

CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) -- A Bucks County mom has a new robotic arm, thanks to an occupational therapy team at Widener University .

Getting around is challenging for Victoria Nedza, who has a rare form of muscular dystrophy. But it's getting easier now with her new robotic arm.

"It has enabled me to be more independent," Nedza said.

The invention was created in an occupational therapy lab at Widener in Chester, Delaware County.

Two graduate occupational therapy students and a professor were eager to help a stranger who reached out on a whim.

"They were really receptive and responsive right away," Nedza said.

But it was a challenge to create a robotic grabbing device – the ones available commercially didn't work for the 39-year-old Bucks County mom.

"I always used to ask my son to stop what he's doing, to come and help mom, grab something," Nedza said. "If I dropped a paperclip, I dropped my socks, my glasses, what have you. And I didn't want to be a burden on him, so I wanted a device to help me."

To build the robotic arm, the team at Widener got busy on the drawing boards and fired up the 3-D printer.

"It's pretty great knowing that we were able to help somebody with something that you can't get off of Amazon, or you can't buy it anywhere," said Monique Chabot, a professor at Widener University. "To be able to do this for someone means a lot because knowing that it doesn't exist. It never has existed."

Nedza said the Widener team found a way to work around her hand weakness.

"They blew my mind and came up with a solution that I didn't even think of and that works perfectly," Nedza said.

Picking things up off the floor is no longer a problem for Nedza, who's forever grateful to the Widener team.

"I think they are above and beyond what it is to be patient-centric," Nedza said. "And hopefully this product not only helps me but other people as well."

Nedza and the Widener team started as strangers but quickly became friendly collaborators.

The lab is now part of a community of volunteers making assistive devices for other people like Nedza.