William's invention is a small, 3D printed plastic disposal unit that fits into testing kits used by diabetics. Diabetics can feed strips into it throughout the day, and dispose them all when it gets full.

Grame, who has type 1 diabetes, sometimes needs to test his blood up to 10 times a day and had the habit of leaving them on the floor. “It’s important to diabetics because they always get in trouble for leaving their test strips everywhere,” said the boy.

Because technicians at Raomed were able to scan the patient’s jaw and cranium and send the 3D files to Deviaene, he was able to design and manufacture the implants completely remotely from his lab in the Canary Islands. Deviaene says, “The final product was made using EBM technology, which stands for electron beam melting. We prepared it for shipping and never had to travel to Argentina to collaborate.”

Honda was inspired by a deaf person he met at a cultural festival, who showed him around using gestures.

This device enables a deaf user to pick up on sounds such as alarms in a way they can register.

“I became very interested in deaf communication and I joined the research society. I studied sign language, volunteered as a sign language interpreter, and established a sign language circle at my university,’ he explains.

The group, founded in 2008, delivers flowers to cancer patients in local hospitals and assisted living facilities.

“All the Pink Ladies have had some type of cancer,” Franck said. “I’m a breast cancer survivor. Steph had (Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma). Janet and Phyllis both, Phyllis had thyroid cancer. Sue’s had breast cancer. We’ve all been there.”

Carol Reid, Carol Wheeler, Carol Linke, Stephanie Reed, Jo Mader, Rita Courtney, Anna Bangs, Phyllis Baade, Linda Franck and Sue Koslow are the Pink Ladies

She underwent a lumpectomy, a round of chemotherapy and 33 radiation treatments.

Tracy’s treatments not only caused hair loss but sensitivity throughout her body, especially her breasts.

“I would put a seatbelt on, and it would rub the area of radiation, and it was very uncomfortable, uncomfortable enough to where you’d just want to unlock your seat belt,” Shelton said.

She discovered other patients experienced the same, so Shelton decided to create a padded seat belt cover to ease the pain.

Through her own Make-A-Wish project, Alexis is creating a three-minute long animated cartoon that helps explain cancer to young children, “Alexi’s Wish”.

In her video, Princess Alexis is kidnapped from her home near the Marrow Woods by a dragon named Kemia. After her fairy godmother tells her she must fight the dragon, she travels to collect a magic wand that will help her fight the dragon, but strip her of her strength and hair.

But, with the help of her family and friends, she defeats the dragon.

“After eight months of brutal chemo treatments, I became aware of certain basic items that made my treatments more tolerable. I would like to create what I call a "chemo care package" to distribute to patients at several hospitals and clinics throughout the community”, she explained.

Shivers learned a body goes through big changes during chemotherapy, like having a more sensitive mouth and weakened immune system. It was during her treatments Shivers discovered the products that worked best for her.

Stella noticed that typical post-mastectomy bras look more utilitarian than attractive, so she took it upon herself to change the notion of what post-surgery wear looks like. Her new Louise Bra, named for her mother's middle name, is pink, frilly and, above all, feminine.

Having recently battled stage three breast cancer herself she knows what would make patients who are sitting through treatments feel better.

“It was still like you were just there and nothing to do and it was always like the highlight of the day if a group came in even if they just brought like hot chocolate or coffee or donuts. If somebody came in and brought something it was like somebody’s here, they care, they want to see that you’re doing better,” Dee-Dee explained.

He wanted to help them gain access to mind-body programs such as deep breathing, Tai Chi and yoga, tailored to people like them, as well as nutrition information and tips on feeding patients with no appetite for food.

Cancer Wellness was lanched in September 2015, with the help of mind-body consultant Rami Rones, and includes short videos on a wide range of topics aimed at helping people feel more comfortable in their own skin.

Jeff underwent through a total of five surgeries, 25 rounds of chemo, and 30 radiation sessions.

The HeartWatch is a blocky yellow contraption that sits on the wrist and uses a light and sensor to track the heart rate. In the event of a heart attack, it is programmed to send a text message to a loved one or emergency services.

“My mom started getting really sick,” Frank recalled. “I’d be scared she would have problems and I didn’t know about it.”

This recreation device which enables disabled children to better engage with bowling, soccer and other physical activities. The Overcomer is a versatile physical activity system that is able to operate with a multitude of different manual and power wheelchairs, walkers, standers, and gait trainers. The interchangeable sport and gaming attachments make it possible for users to participate in a number of fitness and health-related activities and transition from one to the next quickly and easily.

“The Eyedrivomatic technology”, was created in collaboration with Steve Evans and David Hopkinson, and facilitates unprecedented eye-controlled wheelchair movement.

This technology enables wheelchair users who have lost movement in their arms to control their chairs with eye movements.

The 3D printed device connects electric wheelchairs to an Eyegaze device.

‘My wife and little son are both hard of hearing, and I constantly see how that impacts our daily lives. I wanted to design a machine that would enable them to hear better and more,’ he says.

‘I finally chose to design a special lamp, the Absorblight, that could hang over dinner tables. Why a lamp? Light is important for people with bad hearing. It enables them to properly see the facial features and the position of the mouth,’ he explains. ‘And you can hang it on the most important place in family life, the dinner table.’

When Gino learned of a young boy in need of a hand prosthesis, he worked with his team to design an affordable hand using a 3D printer. The child’s family was overjoyed. Gino’s low-cost design provided financial and emotional relief. Since that first design, Gino has continued to serve his community through “Hand4Hand,” an affordable 3D printed prosthetics program. With the help of his dedicated partners, Gino has created prototypes of prosthetic hands to accommodate a variety of needs and disabilities, his designs are incredibly popular.

This man created this device after he saw his grandmother struggling when she had to wash her hair.

The grandson transformed an old helmet and a tank into a machine. The device uses a motorcycle helmet, two water tanks and a powered control panel, to heat water, wash massage and then dry the user's barnet.

First it sprays water and shampoo into the helmet, gently massages your scalp, thorough cleans hair and at the end blow-dries it with warm air. The device has settings for different temperatures that be customized for the user.

Celeste, born in 1961, had a stroke in 2010 that left her paralyzed on the left side. She uses a cane to walk distances but one day in the hospital she grabbed a handrail and took off.

“I thought, ‘Wow!’ And all of a sudden a light went off. I said, ‘She needs a moving handrail, a portable handrail that moves,” Teaby said. And that’s how “Celeste Power Cane” was born.

The doctors told Celeste she would never walk again. But she never accepted that. “I said, well, that’s not what I’m going to hear,” she said. About six months later Celeste was walking.

Ethan suffered a brain injury in 2013 after being struck by lightning.

After two years of recovering, in October 2015, Ethan finally began communicating using his eyes and blinking.

Jacob always enjoyed programming and designing, so he started working on a “yes and no” LED board to help Ethan communicate better. It took Jacob a month and $60 to develop this device. The message board, which reveals a brightly lit response from Kadish, either "yes" or "no," depending on which way he shifts his head.

“We really felt our life ended at that time,” Śliwiński told TODAY. “We thought we had to be locked at home with Leo, have no friends, so filming was therapy for us.”

The documentary, called “Our Curse”, shows the first six months in the life of his son Leo.

The footage includes frank conversations between Śliwiński and Hueckel on the couch in their Warsaw home with Śliwiński going so far as to express his concern that his son may commit suicide when he’s able to understand his disability.

Therese is a professor at the University of New Hampshire and has published two books with DIY solutions for disabled people: “Assistive Technology Solutions in Minutes”, published in 2005, and “Assistive Technology Solutions in Minutes II: Ordinary Items, Extraordinary Solutions”, published in 2013, that comes with a DVD.