Kathleen Lavey

Lansing State Journal

HOLT – It’s time for the morning meeting in Betty Brown’s sixth-grade classroom at Holt’s Hope Middle School, and the students are learning an important skill: shaking hands.

“Not a floppy fish, not too firm,” Brown tells the class. “Practice a just-right hand grip so the person you’re shaking hands with knows you are confident and kind.”

The class trades handshakes, leaving no one out. Zeke Holmes cheerily reaches out from his motorized wheelchair to accept fist bumps on the nub of his right arm, pivoting the chair like a pro to reach kids on both his left and his right.

Zeke is 12 years old, king of the one-line quip, a kid who loves video games, science, macaroni and cheese and trash-talking with one of his sisters. He was born without arms or legs.

Zeke controls a computer by hunting-and-pecking on the keyboard with a stylus he holds in his mouth. He expertly navigates with his wheelchair by pressing his right nub to a joy stick positioned where he can reach it by leaning forward. He takes notes with a pencil held in his mouth, even drawing a picture of what's happening as teacher Tiffany Timmer shows the class how a frozen bubble will float above a pile of dry ice.

His career dreams lie in the courtroom:

“I want to be a prosecutor,” he said. “Putting bad guys away.”

Right now, though, he's thinking about lunch.

"My favorite part of the school day is lunch and LAF (an acronym for "lunch, activities, fun") because I don't have to do any homework and there's no school work and I won't have to get bored," Zeke says, describing his school day. "Gym is fun. Sometimes I wander around and talk to my friends and sometimes I just sit there and watch."

Zeke gets help from an aide for practical matters like getting out pencils and turning pages. His fellow students willingly lend a hand. At this point in the school year, they reflexively scoot their chairs forward to make room for his wheelchair to pass during class.

“He really has a lot of humor and has an awesome personality. He’s someone the kids love to have a conversation with,” said Timmer, who co-teaches Zeke’s class with Brown. “His outlook on life, I wish some of the other kids had that same kind of passion.”

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Zeke's enthusiasm and his willingness to try new things has earned him a spot in a research lab at Michigan State University. He's testing a system that would allow him to control a robotic arm using a vest fitted with sensors that respond to muscle movement on his body.

He has enjoyed his sessions so far: "I came there. They showed me the robot arm. They gave me some chocolate. They let me try it. They gave me some more chocolate."

A fund-raising campaign spearheaded by the nonprofit Project 1, based in Lake Orion, would pay for a robot arm for Zeke's wheelchair as well as a van to transport him and his equipment.

“We do think that this kid is exceptional," said Yvon Russell, founder of Project 1.

Finding a family

The Holmes family already had three daughters when they got an email about a baby who was up for adoption in Colombia.

The boy was born without arms or legs, a rare occurrence. About 6 in 10,000 babies in Colombia are born missing one or more limbs, according to the World Health Organization. The majority are missing a single upper limb. There’s no known reason for most limb differences, although a virus during pregnancy, chemical exposure or medications may have an effect.

They couldn't get Zeke out of their thoughts.

They traveled to meet Zeke in Colombia in 2005. The bright, engaging baby had already had figured out how to move himself around by rolling.

“He’s very inventive,” said Greg Holmes, Zeke's father. “He rolls 100 miles an hour. When he was a baby, we used to say he had abs of steel.”

Greg, a computer programmer who is used to solving problems, has always looked for possibilities to improve Zeke’s independence. He's quiet, thoughtful, and on a tight daily schedule, picking up Zeke after school, then hustling to pick up one of the girls at her school.

As soon as Zeke arrived at their home in Holt, his parents started looking for ways to give him as many advantages as possible. One of the first people Greg recruited was Joe Springer, owner of Springer Prosthetics in Lansing.

"He's a great kid to work with. He's really on top of things," said Springer. "If anyone has a chance, he does."

Starting when Zeke just a baby, Springer has made him a series of molded seats that help him sit upright when he isn't in his wheelchair.

Several years ago, Springer tried to fit Zeke with prosthetic arms, but both of them were disappointed in the outcome. Zeke's arm nubs were simply too small to support the devices or create any meaningful movement with them.

"They kept sliding off," Zeke said.

But Springer wasn't prepared to concede defeat.

He has fitted clients with myoelectric prosthetics, which users can control with electrical impulses from their own nerves and muscles. He couldn't let go of the idea of providing Zeke with some type of controllable limb.

So Springer contacted Michigan State University and wound up talking to Ranjan Mukherjee. Springer posed a challenge: "I said, 'What's the possibility that he could feed himself?'"

Mukherjee is a professor of mechanical engineering whose main research focus is developing underwater robots. He liked the challenge. And he liked Zeke.

“He is always smiling,” he said. “Zeke was the motivation.”

Mukherjee teamed with Mei Hua Lee, a professor of kinesiology whose research involves the development of motor skills, to pilot a system for Zeke using a vest fitted with sensors to make the arm respond to muscle movements.

MSU's College of Engineering gave Mukherjee and Lee a seed grant to purchase a robotic arm made of composite material that is light enough to be mounted on Zeke’s chair.

As they worked, they began to see more and more possibilities in the interface.

“Now that we are making progress, we see that it could benefit a bigger group of people who have disabilities,” Mukherjee said.

An engineering challenge

Sanders Aspelund was suited and up and ready for human-machine interface.

The MSU senior sat in a low office chair at a table in a second-floor lab in MSU's Engineering building wearing a ball cap and a short, black vest made of breathable, stretchy material. The vest was equipped with a sensor on each shoulder and on its lower edge, mid-chest. The cap had two sensors. A gray-and-black robotic arm made of lightweight carbon fiber was anchored to the corner of a table with colorful C-clamps.

Doctoral student Sheryl Chau fired up a laptop to connect the robotic arm to the sensors, and Aspelund got to work. The two have been testing the interface to fine-tune its movements before they bring Zeke and other kids in for more testing.

Aspelund trained his eyes on the three-fingered claw of the robotic arm, then hunched a shoulder slightly. The arm lurched into motion. With slight shoulder movements and by leaning forward and back, he positioned the claw around a plastic water bottle.

He tightened it, then brought the bottle forward and took a sip.

Zeke has successfully piloted the vest and robotic arm in two dimensions, chasing and capturing a dot of light projected onto a wall. Soon, he will come in to see if he can pick up the bottle and take a drink, using the arm in the up, down, right, left, forward and backward of the real world. After that, they'll work on the more complex task of opening a door.

Aspelund and Chau are adjusting the device with a 12-year-old boy in mind. Right now, it is programmed to move slowly so that nobody gets hurt. It can be sped up as Zeke becomes more adept.

Mukherjee says the next task will be opening a door. That requires even more complex movements, as the chair will likely have to move in concert with the arm. The sensors must be calibrated to respond to small muscle movements, but not too small.

"We don't want it to move if I breathe," Aspelund said.

Mukherjee expects there to be a learning curve, but that Zeke will soon master it.

“If you have seen Zeke, he is extremely proficient in riding his wheelchair. He can spin it. It has become second nature to him,” Mukherjee said.

There’s just one catch: The robotic arm and vest cost up to $25,000. And even if Zeke fully masters the vest and arm, the researchers can’t give one to him since the equipment is university property.

And that’s where Zeke’s community has stepped in.

An army of helpers

Yvon Russell runs a marketing firm based in the Detroit suburb of Lake Orion. He’s also the founder of Project 1, a nonprofit organization that provides grants to deserving individuals who may not otherwise find funding.

“If somebody’s got need, it doesn’t matter if it’s a breast cancer survivor, somebody who can’t afford the school uniforms to go to school in Pontiac,” he said.

One of Zeke’s former teachers met a Project 1 committee member at an event, showed the whole Project 1 team a video of Zeke and won them over to the cause. Russell said the committee was teary-eyed after the presentation.

They set a lofty goal: Raising $150,000 to pay for the robotic arm, a newer van than the one the family has and barrier-free housing for the Holmes family.

Right now, Zeke leaves his motorized wheelchair at school because it doesn't fit in the family's 2002 minivan, which has nearly 200,000 miles on it. There's also little room for him to maneuver it in the family's small apartment. But the robotic arm is the top priority.

They’ve raised about $10,000 toward that goal, but efforts have stalled. In hopes of boosting donations, Russell has found a donor to match the next $25,000 that comes in.

Ciara Coleman thinks it's a great cause. She and other members of the Holt's National Junior Honor Society raised more than $500 in December with a candy sale, delivering holiday candy canes around the school for $1 each.

"It was a bit of work, she said. "But it was really fun. It's good to know that we could give back to someone in our community."

Just another student

The beauty of Zeke’s sixth-grade experience at Hope Middle School is that he doesn’t feel exceptional at all.

Paraprofessional Stefans Hampton has worked with Zeke for two years. He helps Zeke with personal care such as changing into gym clothes and sets out the tools Zeke needs for each class.

“I assist him, but I also step back and give him his freedom and let him be a kid,” Hampton said.

Before lunch on a Wednesday in January, Zeke decides to work on his chess game with volunteer coach Gus Lusis. Lusis makes Zeke’s moves for him, but Zeke decides where his pieces will go. The game went Zeke’s way, but he’s not sure chess will ever become a favorite.

“It’s all right. It’s entertaining, and it gives me something to do, but it’s not a hobby,” Zeke said.

At lunch, Hampton sets out Zeke’s food, taking a peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of a bag and opening a cup of fruit. Then he steps back. Zeke lowers his head close to the table to take bites out of the sandwich. He grabs a slice of mandarin orange from a plastic cup with his tongue.

“Do you want one?” asks classmate and friend Abdullah Fejzullahu, holding up a package of bite-sized chocolate chip muffins.

“Yes!” Zeke says, and Abdullah pops it into his mouth. They’ve been friends since third grade.

“He’s funny,” Abdullah says.

Zeke is looking forward to testing the robotic arm again. He says it was fun to do the two-dimensional testing, although it took him a little time to get the knack.

Mukherjee is looking forward to it, too, and he expects the multi-dimensional test will happen soon.

"I am excited to see how he feels when he can do the task and drink from the bottle," Mukherjee "We want the robot to become Zeke's hand."

Zeke already knows what he's going to do if he is able to get the robot arm home.

"I would get in the refrigerator and get some food," he said.

Contact Kathleen Lavey at (517) 377-1251 or klavey@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @kathleenlavey.

How to help

Contribute to Zeke Holmes' GoFundMe account here.

If you would like to donate by sending a check, make the check out to Project 1 and put "Zeke" in the notes section. Mail it to Project 1, Attn: K Mumma, 3340 S. Lapeer Road, Lake Orion, MI 48359

Project 1 has found a donor to match the next $25,000 in contributions.