'Hall' of an inspiration

Sunday, September 02, 2007

He lost a leg in the Real IRA Omagh bomb but superactive Ali Hall leads an inspirational life. Pauline Reynolds reports

He's completed a gruelling triathlon in three hours 45 minutes and has a burning ambition to climb Ben Nevis.

He loves to keep active and counts hill walking, cycling and tennis among his hobbies.

Nothing is too great a challenge for Ali Hall - despite having lost part of his right leg in the Omagh bomb.

And he's just returned from a two-week trip to Vietnam to witness for himself how less privileged amputees cope.

Life is good for the 21-year-old university student who has decided to use his disability to his advantage.

He plans to pursue a career in prosthetics and orthotics, having been encouraged by the revolutionary work at Belfast's Musgrave Park hospital centre of excellence.

It was there Ali began his road to rehabilitation.

"When I was younger and getting my limbs fitted, I was always asking questions and became really interested in what was going on," he recalled.

"Then, in lower sixth, I was able to do my work experience in Musgrave Park and got to see the kind of things that went on behind the scenes.

"It was fascinating and I probably wouldn't have chosen this career path if it hadn't been for my injury."

As part of his course at Strathclyde University, he and a group of fellow students visited Vietnam in July.

The war between 1959 and 1975 is believed to have left around 20pc of the population as amputee casualties.

Ali found the experience educational and humbling.

"We visited schools and clinics where a lot of children were born without limbs and with other deformities," he explained.

"Chemicals used during the war have meant that generations of Vietnamese suffer from genetic abnormalities.

"There were landmine victims and also people who had lost limbs through road traffic accidents.

"I was able to relate to the young people over there, but it's sad to see that they're not really integrated back into society.

"Artificial limbs are so expensive that few can afford them.

"I remember a little lad coming up to me in the street to tell me his uncle, who was only about 30, had both his legs blown off in a landmine.

"He said he had never been fitted with artificial limbs and who knows if he ever will.

"I learned a lot about how much money our health service gives to helping amputees and realised how lucky I was to have the medical expertise we have here.

"I was shocked at what I saw."

The lack of progress in treating children with limb deformities was brought home during a visit to one school.

With the best of intentions, only limited help can be given because of a lack of funding and proper training.

"There were small children with their mothers, who were being taught physiotherapy," he said.

"It was really moving to see so many kiddies, who have to go through so much, being given so little.

"They didn't even cry or complain, although it was a very difficult time for them. Many couldn't walk or get around.

"What a contrast to the amazing progress that has been made here in Northern Ireland."

The trip made a huge impact on Ali.

"Since I've been home I've been thinking more about my experience in Vietnam," he revealed.

"I now feel that when I qualify I'll consider taking my skills to deprived countries which have the greatest need.

"A course - similar to the one I'm studying - has opened up in a school in Hanoi and it's doing a lot of good work.

"There are also outreach programmes for adults and children, but what's really needed is for more qualified people out there."

To help finance the trip Ali and his colleagues embarked on the triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run).

He added: "It was pretty tough going, but you can't let anything hold you back.

"There's always a way of getting around any obstacle.

"I'd love to expand my hill walking. Ben Nevis would be a good one to tackle and I should be able to do that in a few years.

"There's nothing to gain by looking back. I've achieved everything I've ever wanted."

A day of devastation
Ali Hall was one of six victims of the Omagh bomb who lost limbs in the blast.

What had begun as a trip out shopping with mum Gwen ended in a day of carnage and destruction.

The no-warning Real IRA explosion in Market Street on August 15, 1998 killed 31 people including unborn twins and left 370 injured.

Ali and Gwen were just yards from the car bomb when it went off.

On the first anniversary of the bomb, Sunday Life caught up with the then 13-year-old and his parents on a holiday in Castlerock.

Already he had nurtured that positive attitude and optimistic outlook he holds true to this day.

"There's no point worrying. No one can turn back time. You just accept it and get on with your life," said the carefree teenager at the time.

Ali told of how he remembered lying on the ground, feeling debris and rubble piled up on top of him.

"I tried to crawl away and then tried to get up, but I couldn't and I knew something was wrong with my leg," he recalled.

"I called for help and a man carried me into Slevins chemist and then I was carried into an ambulance."

He added: "I was frightened, confused and wasn't sure what had happened. "

Ali didn't realise that his right foot had been severed.

Doctors advised that amputation below the knee would give him the greatest chance to rebuild his future.

This exceptional youngster struggled through many gruelling hours of therapy to get his life back to normal.

Recovery was painful and hard to endure, but Ali rarely complained, even when further surgery was needed after his wound became infected.

One of the most difficult obstacles was to learn to walk again with the help of an artificial limb.

But like everything else he's achieved, Ali embraced the challenge with enthusiasm and steely determination.

Nowadays he lives life to the full.

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Southern Sudan: Twice a survivor of war

Southern Sudan: Twice a survivor of war
Although the conflict between the southern and the northern regions of Sudan ended in 2005, many of its victims are still striving to rebuild their lives. Mayon Deng, 42, joined the Sudanese army in 1984 and was dismissed in 1996 when he lost his left leg in combat. In November 2006, an attack in Malakal resulted in the amputation of his remaining leg. The ICRC's communication delegate in Juba, Robin Waudo, tells Mayon's story.

To read this story visit: Relief Web

Also for addition stories on this subject visit

http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2007/09/twice-a-survivo.html

Herr wins $250,000 Heinz Award

Professor Hugh Herr, a double amputee whose work has led to the development of new prosthetic innovations that merge body and machine, has won the 13th annual Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment. The award is among the largest individual achievement prizes in the world. Herr, of the Media Lab, was recognized for “breakthrough innovations in prosthetics and orthotics.” He is among six distinguished Americans to receive one of the $250,000 awards presented in five categories by the Heinz Family Foundation.

…At age 17, Herr lost both legs below the knee in a mountain climbing accident, but returned to the classroom after a few years to earn an undergraduate degree in physics, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard. Today, his work at the Media Lab focuses on human amplification and rehabilitation systems - technologies that interact with human limbs, mimicking biological performance and amplifying function. Herr predicts that in 5 to 10 years, leg amputees will be able to run faster and move with a lower metabolic rate than people with biological limbs.

Related: The Heinz Award for Technology, Economy and Employment - 2007 Draper Prize to Berners-Lee - Millennium Technology Prize to Dr. Shuji Nakamura

Read The Full Article: http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2007/09/13/herr-wins-250000-heinz-award/

post from Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog on 13 September 2007 09:44:00 AM. © Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog

Athletics: Counting Down To The 30th Anniversary Lasalle Bank Chicago Marathon

30 Inspiring Stories in 30 Days

A lifelong runner, Amy Palmiero-Winters’ life changed after a 1994 motorcycle accident resulted in the loss of her leg below the knee. Amy’s running spirit never failed and she looks to follow-up her 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon performance that set a new female amputee world record with a potential qualifying time for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

WHO: Amy Palmiero-Winters
AGE: 35
OCCUPATION: Welder
HOMETOWN: Meadville, Pennsylvania
MARATHONS: Cleveland, Boston, The LaSalle Bank Chicago, Lake Placid

RUNNER STORY: Amy Palmiero-Winters has the ability to make great athletes appear mediocre. In high school she was an outstanding competitor in swimming and track. She was faced with a major obstacle in 1994 when she was injured in a brutal motorcycle accident. Along with the scrapes and bruises, her left foot was fatally damaged in the ordeal. After three years and 25 surgeries, her physicians concluded that her leg below the knee would need to be amputated. She would struggle to get her life back in order, learning to walk with a prosthetic leg.

Three years passed as Amy learned how to maneuver with her prosthetic leg. It was designed for walking as she was never expected to be able to run well enough to need anything more. A lifelong athlete, Amy was not about to let this road block prevent her from running. In 2005 with her walking prosthetic, a five- month pregnancy, and the odds against her, Amy entered the Silver Strand Marathon in California. She surprisingly finished second in her division. With this enormous accomplishment under her belt, she was motivated to increase the level of physical difficulty and enter a triathlon in New York City. This time she took third place in her division with her walking prosthetic and a bike on loan from her boss.

Her ability to compete in exceptionally challenging races drove her to the next level. If she wanted to improve her success she needed to find better tools. She researched her options and decided that Erik Schaffer offered the best opportunity as president of A Step Ahead Prosthetics & Orthotics in Long Island, N.Y. A Step Ahead is known for working with athletes to develop training and equipment to accompany their wishes to compete in sports. She worked with their physical therapists and prosthetists to prepare for her next race. Securing a prosthetic designed for running was the first step in the right direction.

In 2006, Amy entered The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon with two barely healed, broken toes and a two-day old discharge from the hospital where she had been admitted for anaphylactic shock. She finished in 3:04:16; setting a new world record for a female below-the-knee amputee. Her new personal record shaved 12 minutes off her previous time - certainly a remarkable accomplishment for any athlete, but it becomes an outstanding conquest considering her previous time was set at the Boston Marathon prior to the amputation!

Amy can also add her ability to competitively race against able-bodied opponents to her resume. She has placed 1st overall in two 5K and one 10K races. Her phenomenal performances earned her a nomination for the 2007 ESPY Awards for best female athlete with a disability. This October, Amy will return to The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon with an even loftier goal. She is striving not only to post a new personal best by lowering her finish time below three hours, but to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials, a feat many able-bodied athletes only dream of achieving.

WEBSITE: www.seeamyrun.com

RACE INFORMATION: The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon will celebrate its 30th anniversary on Sunday, October 7, 2007 as 45,000 participants advance to the start line, embarking on the culmination of 45,000 personal journeys. Along with the massive field of recreational runners, the 26.2-mile course will welcome a full field of world renowned professional athletes drawn to the flat, fast, urban setting and the potential to break world and national records. The professionals will compete for prize money and points in the World Marathon Majors series which will crown its first male and female champions with $500,000 each at the close of 2007. Since the inception of its charity program in 2002, The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon has generated more than $27.5 million for a variety of charitable causes including $9.5 million in the 2006 event alone. Registration for the race opened on January 1, 2007 and closed when it reached capacity on April 18.

Linda’s story and all previously released runner stories are available at ChicagoMarathon.com.

Reaching for recovery

Doctor helps boy who lost arm to cancer prepare for the future

Daisy Martinez

September 18, 2007 - 1:05AM
Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN — Gildardo Guzman is like most other 7-year-old boys: He likes to swim, play video games and play with his older brother Carlos.

If it weren’t for the physical aspect, no one would ever be able to tell that he battled osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, just a year ago.

Gildardo won the battle against cancer, but in the process lost his left arm and shoulder. Doctors removed the limb and joint because they feared the cancer would spread.

But Gildardo’s bubbly personality and big, bright smile divert attention from the left side of his body.

“I used to feel bad because my arm hurt all the time, but not anymore,” he said in Spanish. “I feel better now, because I don’t have pain anymore.”

Gildardo’s mother, Nancy Guzman, said learning her son had cancer was absolutely devastating.

“But the strongest one through all of this has been Gildardo,” she said in Spanish. “When he came out of surgery, when they had just removed his arm, he told me not to cry. He said that if he wasn’t crying, why should I be crying.”

Gildardo said he hasn’t stopped doing the things he did before he lost his arm — even playing his favorite video game, Zelda.

He uses his right hand and left foot to operate the game controller. And he said it only took him one day to learn how to do that.

Now that it has been more than a year since Gildardo’s arm was removed, he has hope of having an arm again.

The Guzman family lives in McAllen and said they searched the Rio Grande Valley for the best possible prosthetic arm, the cost of which will be paid by Medicaid.

That’s how they ended up in Doug Wacker’s office.

Wacker, a prosthetist/orthotist, owns Nutech Orthotics & Prosthetics in Harlingen. He said that in more than 27 years of practice in Houston at the Texas Medical Center, he has never seen a case like Gildardo’s.

Wacker has been working to create a “passive arm” for Gildardo, which will serve cosmetic purposes. But the work hasn’t been easy, Wacker said.

“No other 7-year-old has ever had one,” he said about Gildardo’s prosthesis. Wacker said he has called all over the nation, Canada and even Germany looking for the parts needed to make a prosthetic arm to fit Gildardo. Liberating Technologies Inc., of Holliston, Mass., custom-made the parts that Wacker needed to make the prosthesis for Gildardo. The artificial arm weighs about 4 pounds and is something to which Gildardo must become accustomed, Wacker said. “(The prosthetic arm) will be difficult getting used to because his center of gravity has changed,” Wacker said. “We’ll see how he does with this. I’m hoping that in the future he’ll be able to get a myoelectric prosthesis (with which) he’ll be able to control his elbow and hand through nerve impulses.”

Wacker expects Gildardo will use this prosthetic arm for about a year before exploring the possibilities of a more sophisticated one. Although Wacker is still making some adjustments to Gildardo’s initial prosthesis, the youngster could get the artificial appendage in as little as two weeks.

“This is a great feeling,” Wacker said about helping Gildardo. “This is what lets you sleep at night.”

The fitting for the prosthesis reminded Nancy Guzman that Gildardo and the whole family will have to go through a long process as he progresses to more sophisticated and functional prostheses.

“This won’t be the last step,” she said. “He’s going to have to adapt from one thing to the other and go from something simple to something more sophisticated. I know my expectations are big, but I’ve already seen that bionic arms and even human arm transplants are being done.”

Gildardo said he likes his prosthesis, because learning to control it and live with it once he takes it home will be like learning how to play a game.

“I don’t feel the same, but better,” Gildardo said as he left Wacker’s office.

Tech Tuesday — Bionic technology makes for a good fit

Originally published September 18, 2007

By Pamela Rigaux News-Post Staff
Photo by Skip Lawrence

Gettysburg resident Paul Selmer is a little lighter on his feet, and not because he lost weight.

In fact, the 6 foot, 200 pound pilot has gained a little, but feels lighter after being fitted two months ago with a high-tech prosthetic foot.

Unlike other prostheses, the PROPRIO Foot, by Ossur America and Dynastream Innovations of Canada, is "intelligent" -- it detects where the limb is in space, according to the Bionic Technology by Ossur America website, www.ossur.com/bionics.

That spatial sense is known as "artificial proprioception," hence its name: PROPRIO Foot.

"I have never walked with a smoother gait," Selmer, a 30-year amputee, said. "I don't feel it.

The foot self-adjusts to an incline or decline. I never realized what a difference it made."

The PROPRIO has an on and off switch, he said. "You flip a button to turn on the gyro that's built in it. Same thing in airplanes. It knows which way is up."

Over the last three decades, Selmer was resigned to feeling pressure on his upper leg when he walked. He never imagined it could be different.

The "hip hike," pain, as it is called, is corrected by the PROPRIO's more symmetrical and balanced gait, according to Ossur's website. Bionic technology is a fusion of electronics, mechanics and human physiology.

Selmer's Gettysburg practitioner, Jeffrey Brandt, of Ability Prosthetics & Orthotics Inc., told him about the product. Selmer readily agreed to try it.

"Jeff had a meeting with the manufacturers," Selmer said. "They came out to show what it could do."

The prosthetic cost $20,000, the equivalent of two small aircrafts. Even so, Selmer put down the money.

"That's a good price for a foot," he said.

He plans to ask if insurance will reimburse some of it.

Brandt believes Selmer is the first client in Northern Maryland and Pennsylvania to get a PROPRIO. The foot was released to the public this summer, according to a press release from Ability Prosthetics & Orthotic Inc. Prior to that, it had been used only by veterans.

Selmer might also become the first pilot to use a PROPRIO. He is working on a way to fly with it. The limb he has been using isn't as flexible.

"I haven't experimented to see if the PROPRIO will better work for me," Selmer said. "When you get in a car, you're supposed to turn it off. It extends to the floor."

Hitting an accelerator wouldn't be ideal on land or air, he said.

"We're going to make (the PROPRIO) work; one of those Yankee ingenuity things," Selmer said.
At least one thing is for sure -- Selmer can use the PROPRIO for his daily work as owner of Gettysburg Frame Shop & Gallery, a Civil War art gallery on Chambersburg Street.
Brandt said Selmer has been easy to work with.

"He knows how to describe, very accurately, what he is feeling in his prosthetic socket and at his ankle. The most amazing thing was to see Paul walking up and down hills without leaning forward or backwards to re-distribute his weight and thus keep his balance."

Injured hound's back on track in Grindstone

By Barbara Hollenbaugh

FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Ron and Pat Russin of Grindstone were proud of their 3-month-old bloodhound puppy, Hector. He promised to be a fine natural tracker.

But on the evening of Jan. 19, 2006, Hector was left for dead in a hit-and-run accident. The dog's recovery would spawn a union between human and veterinary medical technology.

"I was taking some groceries from my car into the house," Ron Russin said. "I let Hector out into the yard. He went down over the hill to the road. He didn't come back, so I went looking for him. That's when I found him in the road.

"I moved him to the bank alongside the road. I got a wheelbarrow and took him to the house, then hollered for my wife."

Pat Russin immediately began to phone every veterinarian in the area, trying to find one whose office was still open.

Finally, at nearly 10 p.m., the Russins got through to Donald Tummons in Uniontown. The Russins said they were prepared to have Hector euthanized, if necessary.

Tummons' immediate concern was for Hector's front legs, which had taken the brunt of the impact. Upon examining Hector, he concluded the dog had only partial paralysis in his legs; there was hope that Hector would regain nerve function.

"Hector had been rolled during the accident," Tummons said. "That caused him to hyperextend his front legs, which caused bilateral paralysis in his front legs."

Although Hector sustained no other serious injuries, Tummons still was concerned for his long-term quality of life.

"Dogs can do well on three legs; they don't function so well on just two legs," he said.
The Russins visited Hector every day during his nearly weeklong stay in the animal hospital.
"We helped change his bandages," Pat Russin said. "We also gave him physical therapy; we massaged his legs and stretched them to keep them supple."

Many people throughout the community heard of Hector's accident, and they raised funds to pay for his care. Hector made weekly visits to Tummon's office for several months after the accident.

In the meantime, the Russins tried to track down the vehicle that had struck their dog. Pat Russin wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper, hoping that somebody would come forward with information about the accident.

"All I got in reply was an anonymous letter, sent directly to my home," she said. "I think it was a guilt trip from the person who did it."

Ron Russin queried his neighbors, hoping that somebody could give an eyewitness account of the incident.

"Nobody seen nothing. Nobody heard nothing," he said.

Once Hector had been stabilized, Tummons and the Russins focused on helping the dog regain his mobility. At first, Tummons used a creeper, which mechanics use when they work underneath vehicles, to help Hector move around.

A local resident fixed a baby carriage to give Hector some more mobility.

In August 2006, Tummons suggested giving Hector's legs support while still allowing him to move. He contacted Anatomical Designs in Uniontown, and prosthetics designer Brad Scott agreed to take on the assignment.

"Hector's problem was that his paralysis caused his paws to curl under, so that he was walking on his ankles," Scott said. "He was developing sores. He had many of the same problems that humans have when their legs are paralyzed."

After much trial and error and many fitting sessions, Scott developed a set of orthotics that would work for his canine patient. To make the orthotics, Scott made a cast of Hector's legs, then used the casts to make solid molds of plaster. Afterward, he took the mold and added more plaster to ease the pressure onspecific areas of Hector's legs.

Finally, Scott poured molten plastic over the casts, then finished them by adding some padding and straps.

He said making the orthotics was a learning experience.

"I had never made orthotics for a dog before," Scott said. "I had to learn my animal physiology."
The orthotics helped to stabilize Hector's legs and will prevent him from getting sores.

"If he had continued like he was, his sores would have become infected and his legs would have had to be amputated," Scott said. "I wanted Hector to run and play and just be a dog."

Today, Hector is a happy, 2-year-old bloodhound. He has adjusted well to his orthotics, which relieved the pressure on his legs and allowed his sores to heal. These days, he hardly needs them.

"Hector loves to play ball. I can't keep up with him," Ron Russin said.

The dog has regained motion in his right leg, but his left paw remains paralyzed. Hector also has some slight unevenness in his legs.

Still, Tummons is pleased with Hector's recovery. "He has adapted amazingly well," he said.
Scott recently had another canine client, from north of Pittsburgh.

"The ligaments in this dog's rear left leg had snapped, so effectively that leg had been detached from the body," he said. "My vet referred me to the family, because she knew that I had designed orthotics for Hector.

"Because I'd worked with Hector, I was able to design a brace that would give this dog's leg the support that it needed while it healed."

Scott said the dog is doing well.

Armed With 4 Legs, Amputee Heads to Big Race

Written by Deborah Hoffman, Reporter

Two and a half years ago, 33-year-old Jonathan Bik was completing the final test to become a lineman for Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD).

He was 45 feet off the ground when he lost his footing. "I came straight down the pole and landed flat-footed," said Bik. He snapped his femoral artery and doctors could not save his right leg.

The father of two young girls was not going to let his injury keep him down. "All I have to do is look around a little bit and there's always somebody that's got it a little harder than I do, so it kind of puts it in perspective," he said.

While Bik was in the hospital his thoughts turned to running. "I wanted to be able to run again. I'd seen it in magazines," he said.

He calls himself extremely lucky, saying "SMUD's been great. They've taken care of all of my prosthetic needs."

Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics fitted Bik with three different prosthetics: one for everyday use, one to help him run, and one for biking."I jumped right into the highest technology stuff," he said.

With the support of his wife and daughters, Bik began training to compete in triathlons. On Sunday he will compete in the Triathlon World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.

He laughed when he said that all he wants is a medal. But even without a medal Bik will tell you he's a winner.

He said he's become a better person after losing his leg. "I don't think I really realized what I had before," he said. "One of my greatest improvements is appreciating the things that I have and what I'm able to do."

Copyright 2007

News10/KXTV

. All Rights Reserved.

Created: 8/28/2007 2:56:39 PM

Updated: 8/29/2007 5:11:06 PM

Insurance denies amputees limbs

J. Douglas Call

Call is the president of Virginia Prosthetics Inc. in Roanoke, the largest orthotic and prosthetic provider in Southwest Virginia.

"Believe in your possibilities."

That's what I tell patients I see for the first time who have recently lost a limb to amputation. For most patients it's not what they want to hear, and understandably so. Limb loss, whether it's the result of an accident or disease, is a traumatic, life-changing event.

Regardless if the new amputee sitting in front of me is a 17-year-old long-distance runner or a senior citizen who's an active gardener, the reaction is invariably the same. They're skeptical their life can ever be good again -- let alone believe that, with the proper treatment, they'll be able to do the things they once loved, like run a marathon or tend to their garden. But in time, most become believers and realize their possibilities, thanks to continued advancements in the field of prosthetics, experienced and compassionate practitioners, individual determination and a strong family support network.

So imagine my frustration, and more important my patients', when I have to tell some amputees the following: "I have the expertise and technology to fit you with a prosthesis that will help restore the active, fulfilling lifestyle you knew before the amputation, but your insurance policy won't pay for treatment because your insurer either doesn't cover prosthetic care or has reduced its coverage significantly."

In these situations, which are happening with increasing frequency, we still treat the patient because we don't believe in turning anyone away, even if their insurer won't cover the treatment. Previously, we've donated tens of thousands of dollars in treatment and materials to patients, and I'm sure that we will continue to do so.

However, we are not a nonprofit organization and the alarming changes we are witnessing among insurers when it comes to covering prosthetic care threaten our continued ability to treat patients unless changes are made.

Amputees in Virginia today face the grim reality that a growing number of group and private insurance companies are imposing unrealistic caps on prosthetic coverage or are eliminating coverage altogether. Depending on the amputee's level of activity and type of amputation, a prosthesis can cost anywhere from $5,000 to upwards of $40,000. Some insurers force their insureds to accept policy limitations, such as one limb per lifetime, a $2,500 maximum lifetime benefit or a $500 limit on treatment per year.

Unbelievably, some companies are even eliminating prosthetic coverage altogether. There is no consistency among insurers when it comes to prosthetic coverage and there needs to be.
Several states, including Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and California, have already recognized this problem and passed legislation requiring insurance companies to pay for prosthetic care.

In Virginia, a concerned group of patients, orthotic and prosthetic providers, legislators and the Amputee Coalition of America have joined forces under the banner of WAVE, Working Amputees of Virginia for Equality. Together, we are supporting Senate Bill 931, prosthetic parity legislation that requires health insurance companies to provide coverage for the repair and replacement of prosthetic devices and components.

This draft bill is presently before Virginia's Special Advisory Commission on Mandated Health Insurance Benefits, whose members will decide this fall whether the bill dies or takes the next step toward becoming a reality. Commission members should allow this bill to move forward, especially in light of the facts.

Mandating prosthetic coverage can actually save the commonwealth money through cost savings in unemployment insurance, state employment and training programs, rehabilitation and counseling programs and other social welfare systems. According to the coalition, it is estimated that every dollar spent on rehabilitation, including prosthetic care, saves more than $11 in disability benefits. The fiscal savings that result from legislation requiring prosthetic coverage pale in comparison to the nonfiscal benefits that accompany mandated prosthetic coverage.

Amputees who have access to prosthetic care and devices show a reduction in the secondary conditions caused by a sedentary lifestyle, have decreased dependence on caretakers and a reduced chance of diabetic-related complications leading to additional limb amputation.
Most important, this segment of the population can become contributing members of society again instead of being dependent on it.

I urge the commission to allow a prosthetic parity bill to move forward and the nearly 40,000 Virginians living with limb loss or limb deficiency to once again believe in their possibilities.

Orthotics for Abby... A.K.A - field trip for the heart.

The kids and I had to go to Walter Reed Hospital in DC today to get Abby's new orthotics. We spent 3 hours in the prosthetics clinic watching men whose lives and bodies have been obliterated by tragedy in far away places.

The doors to the clinic would swing open wide and these men would roll themselves in the clinic in their wheelchairs and throw their old prosthetic on the counter, laugh and joke with the staff and then minutes later you would see them test driving the new limb while running up the hallway.

Several of them had wives push them in - women with a strength of spirit and heart that seemed too great for words - put pain that was still so close to the surface that they couldn't make eye contact with you.

I could have gotten a babysitter for the two little guys - it was an all day affair. But frankly, I wanted them there. I shared with Michael before we went in what we would see, how he should behave when he saw it and then assured him I'd answer all of his questions when we got back in the van. He was a trooper - amazed while not really understanding how amazing it all was.

Truthfully, I want my kids to see the ugliness of reality - actually I guess I want them to see that NOTHING is FREE. I want them to know of great men and heroes, and people who pay the price and march on.

That's true of their knowledge of Jesus too. I want them to not only know Him as the Savior who rescued them - but also the Savior who was broken and bled and nearly crushed- I want them to know the tomb, only after they've sat at the feet of the cross where the blood trickles down over them. The truth is we need a Savior who bled for us and we need soldiers who will do the same for our freedom in this country and around the world. The sad thing is - very often we want the victory without the battle to the extent that we'll ignore the battle altogther and those who fought.

Wasn't it David who said - "I will not give Him that which costs me nothing".

Today was a reminder of people who say that sort of thing and then have to live with it.

The crazy thing is - the Prsthetics and Orthotics clinic is the rowdiest clinic at that hospital I think - those guys laugh and joke, and talk and share a camaraderie - some unspoken connection that is sacred and precious and solid. It was awkward to be in the room at some points - not because of their injuries - but because of their laughter. I felt small, and shallow and trite.

As we left today, another gentleman was being rolled out to the elevator in front of us - his injuries looked new, his face still carried grimaces of terror and shock - one leg was gone, the other in a cast with tubes hanging out where the foot should have been, one arm in a cast and a tube running out of his shirt at his neck - I never saw him blink. I hope we see running down the halls the next time we're there, or maybe just sitting in the room next to us deciding whether he wants the shiny silver leg, or the flesh colored one made for running. Pray for him - it's a long way from where he was today, to that moment - but at the very least we owe him and others like him a prayer.

Posted by Cindy and the Wards at 6:38 PM

Amputee To Walk For Thame Charity

AN AMPUTEE who lost an arm and a leg while clearing landmines in Mozambique, is currently cycling from the Thai border to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, to help raise funds and awareness for the Thame charity, The Cambodia Trust.

Chris Moon MBE's fundraising will help the Cambodia Trust to provide prosthetic (artificial) limbs, wheelchairs and the opportunity to go to school for many Cambodian children disabled by landmines, polio and other conditions.

"In 1993 I was clearing landmines for a charity in Cambodia and I saw the terrible circumstances in which Cambodian disabled people struggle to survive," explained Chris. "In 1995 I learned the importance of artificial limbs when I lost my lower right arm and leg walking in a supposedly clear area in a minefield in Mozambique."

Moon has undertaken a number of extreme challenges to raise funds for the Cambodia Trust, including a 300-mile run across Death Valley. "I’ve witnessed the work of the Cambodia Trust first hand for more than ten years. It’s a very worthy organisation doing excellent work," he added.

The Cambodia Trust is a UK Registered Charity, established in 1989 and runs rehabilitation centres, community-based rehabilitation projects, and Prosthetics and Orthotics education centres in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and East Timor.

To sponsor Chris Moon: www.justgiving.com/mooncyclecambodia.

To make a donation to the Cambodia Trust: www.cambodiatrust.org.uk

Chris Moon MBE : Biography

CHRIS Moon studied Agriculture with a development bias, worked as a volunteer at a centre for the homeless and then joined the army. On leaving the army in 1993, he began work for British charity the HALO Trust, clearing landmines in Asia and Africa. Whilst working in Cambodia in 1993, he was abducted by Khmer Rouge guerrillas with two Cambodian colleagues. He is one of the few Westerners to have survived the experience, avoiding execution and negotiating their release from a remote jungle base, finally walking 50km overnight through patrolled and mined jungle.

In 1995 in Mozambique he was blown up by a landmine while walking in a cleared area. He lost his lower right arm and leg, but does not consider himself a victim because he chose to work in mined areas, “whereas people who live there have no choice”. Doctors say he survived against the odds because of his high level of fitness and his knowledge of first aid. After leaving hospital he did a Masters Degree in Security Management at the University of Leicester.

In 1996 Chris was awarded the MBE from the Queen for services to the HALO Trust, clearing anti-personnel mines and received a bravery award from Diana, Princess of Wales. In 1998 he received the US Centre for Disability and PALM international leadership award. In March 1999 Lord Snowdon honoured Chris with the Snowdon Special Award for his leadership and support of disabled people. He has also been awarded honorary degrees and doctorates by the universities of Plymouth, Leicester and Exeter.

Less than a year after leaving hospital, Chris completed the London Marathon to raise funds for land mine-injured people in Cambodia. In April 1997 he was the first leg amputee to complete the 250km Great Sahara Run, described as the toughest footrace on earth, raising £100,000 for an International Committee of the Red Cross centre providing prosthetic limbs in Vietnam. He carried the Olympic torch into the stadium in the Nagano Winter Olympics in Japan in February 1998 and ran from Hakone to Tokyo to raise funds for a Japanese charity. In April he started and ran the Flora London Marathon (the first person to ever do this), captaining a team of 500 runners raising funds for charity. In September 1998 he completed Australian’s ‘Outback Challenge’ to raise funds to support mine action programmes. In 1999 he ran the length of Cambodia (700km), supported by a team from the Red Cross, to challenge attitudes towards the disabled, to raise funds and to support requests for the Cambodian government to ratify the Ottawa Treaty.

In July 1999 he was the first amputee to complete the Badwater Death Valley Ultra-marathon. In April 2000 he jointly led a party climbing Kilimanjaro on a new north route. In May 2000 he completed the 100km Kumamoto volcano run in Japan and in July 2000 was one of only 12 people in the world to do the Death Valley 300 miles, from the lowest point of the USA continuously on foot to the highest point and back again in just over six days in temperatures over 130 degrees Fahrenheit. He did it again in 2001 to test false legs and is one of only a handful of people in the world to complete this double desert crossing twice.

Chris Moon established his own company, MTB (Making The Best - his philosophy in life), and is a well-known speaker on the subjects of change management, motivation, leadership and challenging the concept of limitation. His autobiography, ‘One Step Beyond’, was published by Macmillan in 1999.

Chris' story was shown on Channel 4 television in September 2006, as part of the ALIVE series. For more information please visit Channel 4's website: http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/A/alive/programmes_6.html

Hope for the Dog

Karen Zatkulak
August 29, 2007 - 12:34PM

A local puppy is preparing for prosthetics. It's never been done before, artificial limbs on not one, but two legs of a nine week old maltese.

Hope barks and looks like most little maltese puppies do.

"Hope is like any normal nine week old puppy, she's playful and lively and plays with the other dogs like she has all of her legs," said Mary Dube, who got Hope.

However, the four legged friend was born with only two.

Dube got Hope through an organization called Southern Comfort Maltese Rescue that welcomes in dogs in need of help.

While Hope has no problem getting around, Dube wants to give her a fair chance to walk around like a dog, instead of hopping like a bunny.

This is the first time prosthetic limbs will be attempted on an animal like this. Hope will come to Dynamic Prosthetic and Orthotic where they'll make a cast of Hope before making her new legs.

Locke Davis will be making the device, that's much different than the human legs he's used to, but hopes it will work.

"Basically it's a mechanism that's gonna have wheels on the bottom, it's more like a rolling wheelchair or something rather than an artificial limb so he can propel it and drive it with his hind feet," Davis said.

Dube said,"It will help her around on a surface in a home or yard as any other normal dog would, she's not going to be able to go up stairs or anything, that haven't made doggy prosthetics that advanced yet."

But advanced enough to give young Hope hope for a somewhat normal, playful doggy life.

Hope will get the fitting for her new legs this Friday.

Afterwards she will have to go through rehabilitation to build up her back legs.

After losing leg to speeding car, Chandler man walks tall as prosthetist

Connie Midey

The Arizona Republic

Aug. 28, 2007 12:00 AM

Tyler Ritchey sits to take a closer look at Kirsten Witbeck's new right leg. "That's amazing," he says. "It looks just like your other leg. How are you doing with it?"

Witbeck, 26, of Tempe, has been fitted with several artificial legs since being diagnosed with bone cancer and getting an above-the-knee amputation at age 12. This one, with a rechargeable-microprocessor knee and a button for rotating the leg, is a technological marvel.

Better still, one of Ritchey's colleagues at Pongratz Orthotics & Prosthetics in Phoenix recently covered the leg's working parts. Now, its color and the curve of her ankle and calf, visible where Witbeck's capri pants end, mimic those of her left leg.

"I don't think I've ever had a cover that looks this good," she says.

Ritchey asks her about the fit, weight and resistance of the leg when she walks on it, the questions instinctively coming to him.

In one moment seven years ago, a car speeding 80 mph turned him into both a prosthetic user and a prosthetics and orthotics health-care professional.

Many people find work designing and customizing artificial limbs and orthopedic braces by chance, the Chandler man says: An uncle who is an amputee or a classmate who wears a wrist brace opens the possibility of careers not previously imagined.

Ritchey's career route was more direct. In the last month of a two-year church mission in Mexico, he was struck and carried about 300 feet while attempting to cross a winding road on foot after his car broke down.

The driver who hit him swerved hard to fling Ritchey from the hood of the car and kept going, leaving Ritchey with broken bones and injuries to his stomach, lungs, shoulders and knees.

"My leg was the least of my problems," Ritchey says.

His parents were beside him when he emerged from a coma after several days on life support. But there was no one like the Ritchey of today at his bedside in Mexico, no person who had been through a similar experience and was equipped to reassure and educate him about life without a leg.

"It was a shock to wake up and find that my left leg below the knee was gone," he says. "It didn't look good for me to be this active person anymore, the one who played basketball and was always busy."

Phoenix vascular surgeon Jeromy Brink says people who undergo an amputation - about 135,000 are performed each year in the United States - face not just the obvious physical challenges, but emotional ones as well.

"Learning to use a new prosthesis is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical," he says. "It's (dealing with) the loss of an entire part of their lives and getting accustomed to the way things are now."

For patients who lose a limb because of an accident, the emotional loss may be worse than for those with a chronic illness that eventually makes amputation necessary, he says.

"A lot of patients I deal with are long-standing diabetics who have known the score for many years and are facing amputation as a last resort," Brink says.

Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, accidents and cancer are responsible for most amputations.

Ritchey had unstinting support from family, friends and the medical community. For him, adjusting psychologically to the loss of a leg turned out to be easier than adjusting to the demands of therapy and recovery.

Back in the Valley a month after the accident, he came face to face with an unfamiliar frailty. There were daily rehab sessions for a year, 27 surgeries, mending bones, and metal rods and steel plates placed throughout his body.

Still, says Ritchey, 27, "the toughest day I ever had was the first day I was fitted with a prosthetic leg. I thought I'd get the leg and walk out of here, but it required a lot more work."

Even with the lightweight leg he uses on most occasions, walking expends more energy than it did when the legs he was born with propelled him.

Ritchey was fitted with his first artificial leg by the man who later hired him, company owner Joe Pongratz.

Pongratz began calling on Ritchey, who is fluent in Spanish and English, to talk with patients, and he created a paid position for him as amputee liaison when the calls became increasingly frequent.

"I would see Tyler in the lobby before his appointment, and he would talk with the people sitting next to him," Pongratz says. "He was affecting them in such a positive manner. They'd see him walk in, cheery as always, and hear his story and think, 'I can deal with this.' "

Recalling the uncertainty of those early days of recovery, Ritchey decided to take the job. He had survived what he now saw new amputees facing, still in shock emotionally and drained physically from the loss of a limb. He could answer questions from people resisting the surgery their doctor told them they needed.

He enrolled in peer-support counseling classes to improve his job skills, was mentored by Pongratz and other co-workers and quickly learned how rewarding the new job could be.

"You work with people who wheel in here, and you see them walk back out," Ritchey says. "You're giving them back something a lot of them haven't had in a long time."

He and Pongratz organized a support group, Limbs 2 Life, to give new and longer-term amputees further opportunities to share stories.

During informal gatherings, members talk about technical advances that allow them to make a jump shot on the basketball court, wear high heels of varying heights or grasp a gardening tool.

Witbeck, for example, shared with Ritchey that she recently danced at a wedding reception, and she is soon to go camping with friends, a first for her.

"The alignment's good," she says of her prosthetic leg, "and there's a smooth transition from the ankle to the foot. This knee is great, so much more stable. I feel like I can trust it."

Ritchey, married now and the father of two, need not have worried about remaining active. Since the accident, he has earned a bachelor's degree in marketing and made his first parachute jump, his artificial leg proving up to the challenge of absorbing the landing's impact.

He is completing a master's degree in business administration and just began an eight-month prosthetics-certification course through Northwestern University, to be completed online and at the school's Chicago campus.

"Far more doors have opened for me since the accident than have closed," Ritchey says. "With a good family and good doctors and a good company behind you, you can't fail. They keep you up when you're about to fall."

Science aids airman on path to mobility

Developed for an injured dolphin, ‘Easy Gel’ limits amputee’s pain
By Patrick Winn - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Aug 21, 2007 15:21:42 EDT

Brian Kolfage had reasons to be skeptical. After all, the triple-amputee could hardly count the techniques doctors had devised to help him settle into prosthetic legs without stinging pain.
Now there was this Irish practitioner named Kevin Carroll, a supposed wizard with prosthetics, claiming he’d found the solution: a gel-like cushion he invented for a dolphin with an amputated tail.

A dolphin?

“I said, ‘Uh, OK. I guess we’ll try it,’ ” Kolfage said. “I didn’t really think it would work.”

He distinctly recalled Carroll walking into an Arizona treatment center, laying down a hunk of the jelly and doing handstands on it to prove the substance’s worth.

After they lined the sockets in Kolfage’s steel legs with the material, he attached them and, miraculously, jumped up and down with little pain.

“Instantly, I felt it working. It kind of mimics fat. It was gushy but didn’t bottom out,” Kolfage said.

Life has tested Kolfage each day since he lost his right forearm and both legs. A mortar hit him Sept. 11, 2004, when the former senior airman was assigned to the 887th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, serving at Balad Air Base, Iraq.

Kolfage left his tent to grab a water bottle about 2 p.m. He made it 20 feet before a 107mm artillery round sailed over the wire and practically liquefied his lower limbs. His right hand, he recalled, looked like a dog chewed on it.

He awoke three days later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., with his hand and both legs gone. Doctors checking for internal bleeding left a long scar from his breastbone to pelvis.

Kolfage’s resolve was strong. His recovery, considering his near-fatal injuries, was fast. But the airman could not overcome pain he felt standing upright on prosthetic legs. His left leg was removed at the pelvis, and bone spurs — bony growths that often jut out after amputations — were thinly covered.

His body weight bearing down on those spurs was excruciating.

“There’s no fat or tissue covering those spots. Just a little skin,” he said.

Practitioners tried scores of different cushioning materials on Kolfage’s legs. “They probably made 50 pads out of foam. Even my dad was sending bucket loads of stuff, anything he could find,” he said.

No matter the material, walking was deeply painful.

The answer finally emerged last year, in the form of a prosthesis expert and a tailless marine mammal.

A fisherman found the baby bottlenose dolphin in 2005 in the waters off Cape Canaveral, Fla. It was flailing in a crab trap, its mouth caught in rope and its tail losing circulation in a clamp. The state’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution adopted the dolphin, named it Winter, amputated its badly injured tail and found it a home in the nonprofit Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

A pet project

Carroll, an Orlando resident who heard Winter’s story on the radio, detected a challenge. His job title is vice president of Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics. His job description is more compelling: visiting amputees around the nation and providing unorthodox solutions to those with the most difficult problems.

In 2005, Winter became his pet project. The dolphin was relying on its rounded tail nub and flippers to swim, an adaptive technique that could damage its spine. Carroll wanted to design a prosthetic tail for Winter, but he knew he couldn’t use the standard foam pads used to secure prosthetic legs to humans.

So, with an Italian chemical engineer also living in Florida, Carroll helped develop a tacky, transparent, gel-like cushion they call “Easy Gel.” It fits around Winter’s nub, securing a socket fixed to a jointed plastic tail. Winter, about 20 months old, now performs routinely at the aquarium while adjusting to the gel and new prosthesis.

New challenges

Carroll, who is nearing his 29th year as a prosthetist, had seen bomb-blast wounds similar to Kolfage’s many times before: He began his career treating bomb injuries, a toll of “the Troubles” — the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. From those beginnings, Carroll has carved his niche as the man to call when prosthetic treatments plateau. His firm, Hanger, has assisted Hurricane Katrina evacuees, given an injured Marine a camouflage prosthetic arm and aided an adolescent who tripped a mine in postwar Kosovo.

The war in Iraq has presented Carroll with fresh challenges.

“In my position, I see some awful cases,” he said. “Brian would be up there with the worst of them.”

About seven months into his work with Kolfage, Carroll perceived parallels between Winter’s missing tail and Kolfage’s missing legs. Kolfage’s bony spurs, he said, “are very pointy. If you put pressure on the tip of your small fingernail, it’s like that coming through the skin.”

“But Brian just floats on the gel,” he said. “He just sinks into it, but the socket is still stable.”
The seemingly simple solution has finally given Kolfage the ability to walk, his ticket to mobility and freedom.

Kolfage was deemed too injured to continue serving in the Air Force. But through a program called Helping Airmen Recover Together, the service secured him a civilian position as the security manager at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. He lives in Tucson with his wife, Nikki, who married him at the hospital several months after the accident.

Kolfage is one of 312 airmen wounded in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Throughout the military, he’s among only three or four triple amputees from the war. Yet with only one limb intact, Kolfage can shave, type and even drive.

“I’ve learned like a baby to do everything all over again,” he said.

Kolfage would wear his prosthetic legs more often, he said, if it weren’t for Arizona’s sun-baked summers. Walking already costs him about 300 percent more energy than the average person. The signature on each of his e-mails reads: “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”

As for plans to unite with his finned counterpart in Florida, Kolfage is noncommittal.

“One day. Maybe,” he said. “You know, if I’m ever down there.”

BLUE - A Blog About God

Mark 8:34
Published August 21st, 2007 Uncategorized

Yesterday I panicked. Two years ago I decided I wanted to become a practitioner in the field of orthotics and prosthetics. About a year ago I changed my mind, mostly out of fear and the fact that it will be a LOT of work. A few months ago I changed my mind again and half decided to become a practitioner. By half I mean I figured out that God really has given me talents and abilities in this field and it is a field I am passionate about. I figured out that God put these desires in my heart, but I didn’t look the path directly in the eyes. Yesterday I did the research. Since I already have a baccalaureate degree, I have two possible paths. I can either get postbaccalaureate certificates (one for orthotics and one for prosthetics) or I can get a masters degree (in orthotics and prosthetics). I can do most of the coursework for certificates online but I would have to either go to Georgia Tech or East Michigan University for the masters. Masters programs in this field are a relatively new thing so if I go for certificates, I will probably eventually have a way to be grandfathered into a masters. (Probably just have my coursework for certificates count towards a masters and then take a class or two extra, or something like that.) Either path will take about the same amount of time. Either path requires me to take more coursework to meet the prerequisites. To go for a certificate, I will probably have to take out loans. Big ones. To go for a masters, I have opportunities to obtain assistantships, which would pay for my tuition and provide me with a stipend. Did I mention my husband is working on his doctorate no where near the states in which I could get a masters? Either way I am scared of the school work. A lot of it will be memorizing information, which does not come naturally to me. I am a lot better at analyzing a situation and applying knowledge. I am scared but I know I need to do this.


I’ve been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the chapter I read today, he broke apart Mark 8:34:


“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
It was a VERY good chapter. One sentence in particular hit me.


“To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us.”


Some of you may feel I am overreacting about the path I am starting to see in front of me. You may even feel Mark 8:34 is overkill for my situation but here is what I see. I see God leading me somewhere I think is over my head. I feel very incapable. But if this is truly something God is calling me to do, I need to do it and trust Him to provide and pull me through this. I need to deny myself and trust Him. As my dad is always so quick to remind me that God has pulled me through so many situations. He has never given me a reason not to trust Him. This situation isn’t any different. I don’t have to decide right now if I am going to get certificates or a masters but I can at least get started on those prerequisites.


The next post I make will be a lighthearted one, I promise.

Camp for kids with prosthetic limbs underway at Bay Cliff

BIG BAY — “Yes, you can go swimming!” “Yes, you can ride a bike!” “Yes, you can play baseball!”

Phrases like these are what prosthetists at Wright & Filippis found themselves constantly repeating to their young prosthetic patients. Looking for a way to further encourage patients to try new activities, Wright & Filippis developed a summer camp where kids with artificial limbs are taught that “YesICan” DO ANYTHING!

Aug. 19-25 marks the third year for Camp YesICan. This week-long camp aims to build courageous, confident and self-sufficient children to lead productive lives through traditional camping experiences. Amputees, ages 4-17, are encouraged to attend and given the opportunity to learn things like playing golf, trying a martial art, sharpening a pencil, and swinging on a swing.

“Our young patients needed the reassurance that after they lost their limb, they could still do any sport or activity they used to do,” said Wright & Filippis prosthetist, Lynn VanWelsenaers. “I found many other patients throughout the state who had the same concerns and wanted a place where they could all work together to accomplish their goals.”

Camp YesICan is held at Bay Cliff Health Camp, which is located on 170 acres of land along Lake Superior near Big Bay, in Marquette County. Through an intensive program of daily therapy and traditional camp activities, children learn to become more independent and are inspired to believe in themselves and their potential.

Director of Prosthetics of Wright & Filippis, Ken Woodward, explains, “Each child who attends Camp YesICan will learn that with their prosthesis, there truly are no limits. They will learn how to use their prosthesis more fully, try activities and sports they may not have had the opportunity to learn, and practice activities with which they had a hard time. This year, we’re planning to have about 30 kids attend. Our goal is to make a difference in each and every one of their lives.”

Sponsored by the Bay Cliff Health Camp, the Filippis Foundation, and the Wright & Filippis prosthetic department, this week-long experience will give children an environment where they learn to believe that “Yes I Can” DO ANYTHING!

Wright & Filippis is a Michigan-based healthcare company, specializing in prosthetics, orthotics, respiratory services, and home medical equipment. Founded in 1944, Wright & Filippis is the state’s largest home healthcare provider.

Place your vote for Jessica Long for Sportswoman of the Year

Vote for your favorite athletes and enter to win an autographed item by the 2007 Sportswomen of the Year! Ask your friends and family to vote to make sure your top picks win! Voting ends midnight, August 31, 2007.

Welcome to The Cambodia Trust Blog

Stay up to date with the news from The Cambodia Trust

CL woman builds prosthetics and hope for amputees

By Shannon Weatherford

reporter

Belize is a tiny country once known as the British Honduras. Bordered by Guatemala to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east, it is a major tourist destination thanks to lush tropical forests and the longest living barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, as well as its rich Mayan history. As beautiful and breathtaking as those parts of the country are, Belize is, in reality, still a third-world country with the ugly truth hidden from most tourists.

Travel away from the luxurious coastal resorts catering to upscale American and European tastes, inland over its unpaved roads, past field upon field of sugar cane and one ramshackle house after another, and the real Belize is revealed – abject poverty of a large majority of the country’s 294,385 residents and an overwhelming lack of modern conveniences and services, including basic medical care.

The country’s economy is fed by two industries, tourism and agriculture, in that order. Sugar is the chief agricultural crop as well as a main staple in many Belizean diets because of its accessibility. As a result, the incidence of diabetes is high, as is the loss of limbs from the disease. Those lucky enough to have employment often toil on the sugarcane farms. The downside is the number of workers who lose limbs while operating unsafe, outdated agricultural machinery. Lack of medical care also means that many seemingly minor cuts, scrapes and broken bones frequently lead to gangrene and the necessary removal of a diseased limb.

Canyon Lake resident Michelle Whitehead was struck by what she learned about Belize. Having just sold her business of five years, Temecula Valley Orthotics and Prosthetics in Murrieta, Michelle was online researching new opportunities in which she could help others when she came across the Sonrie Ministries program, Project Hope: Belize. What she discovered is that, among all else it lacks, Belize is also the only Central American country without any form of prosthetic services.

Michelle became interested in the field of prosthetics while still in high school when family friend and fellow Canyon Laker Rod O’Conner introduced her to the specialty. She has been working in the field since 1996.

“He offered me my first opportunity and taught me what prosthetics was all about, including teaching me how to fit, cast and fabricate prosthetic devices,” says Michelle. She went on to study at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where she earned a specialized bachelor’s degree in health science with an emphasis on prosthetics and orthotics after making it through a highly selective process to be named as only one of 12 students accepted to the two-year program.

The specific goal of Project Hope: Belize, founded in 2000, is to provide prosthetic services to those most in need; it has given new hope to more than 120 patients to date. Services are offered free of charge, with all materials donated and practitioners volunteering their time as well as paying their own costs.

In addition, local Belizeans now train with the team to become technicians so that maintenance and follow-up care can be provided even when a Project Hope team is not in town. Its first permanent facility in Belize is located in the community of Orange Walk Town, also known in the local dialect – a mix of English and a type of Creole - as “Shuga Town” for its role as top sugar producer in the country.

Michelle made her first trip with Project Hope in May, and the effects of the trip were immediate and lasting. Accompanied by her husband, Chuck Whitehead, their two children Trevor and Ryan, and her mom, Margaret McCoy, this would be Michelle’s first foray to a country like Belize.

As with many countries, Belize has beautiful places to visit – the cays, the resorts, etc. We went to the ‘real’ Belize and saw how the people really live,” she recalled of her impressions. “The country is very rundown and very poor. We were told the average weekly salary was around $7 to $8 per week.”

While in Belize, Michelle spent her time building legs for a number of patients – people with diabetes, cancer patients, a teen who was electrocuted and car accident victims. The group of practitioners she traveled with included the head of Georgia Tech’s prosthetics department. She worked closely with Adrian, a local man born with no legs who helps coordinate patient services when they are in town.

“He believes he was given his disability to help inspire amputees and to teach them that through courage and faith they can do anything and their lives can still have meaning,” explains Michelle, adding that she was absolutely taken by his joy for life despite his obvious handicap.

Over the years, Michelle says she has made many different types of prosthetics for a wide variety of patients, from infants to seniors – even a horse leg – and has always felt a certain joy at having the ability to give someone an opportunity at a better life; but never more so since her return from Belize.

“I am hoping to help build more legs for as many other less fortunate people around the world as possible,” she says. “It makes you realize how lucky we are to live in such a great place and how much of an impact we, as Americans, can directly make on the lives of others. It also makes me proud that I am in a profession that can so directly change peoples’ lives.”

To find out more about Project Hope: Belize,

visit the Sonrie Ministries website at www.sonriesministries.org.

Crossing the United States of America One Step

Categorizing, ordering, and organizing a compilation of transcontinental U.S. crossings !

ow~commandpost™

ow~commandpost™A place for American patriots that support our military and our allies (Part of the net wide troop support Coalition) More About Eugene Starks Roberts, Sr.

Former Marine, double amputee, ’Running across America for Jesus’

Wednesday, 11 July 2007

By Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA (ANS)

-- Gene Roberts is a former Marine with a big heart – and an even bigger goal: to run more than 3,500 miles across the United States on prosthetic legs. Roberts is a double amputee who served in the Vietnam War until he stepped on a land mine in Da Nang in 1966. He is in the process of running across America to inspire other war veterans and raise money for his favorite charities in the name of Jesus.

Eugene Starks Roberts was born December 14, 1945 to Lyle and Margaret Roberts. Eugene was born an identical twin of two boys; his twin is named James. Gene was educated in the Baltimore City School System.

He graduated from Forest Park High School where he excelled in cross country track and wrestling. After high school, Gene entered the Marine Corps. He went through his basic training and was soon sent to Viet Nam. He was in Viet Nam for about a month when he was hit by a land mine and had to have his legs amputated. One leg was amputated above the knee and one below the knee. Gene was an excellent patient and before too long was walking on artificial legs after extensive physical therapy.

In 1967 Gene met his wife, Marian Alicia, and they were married December 15, 1967. They have three girls, Cherie, Lawana, Bonita, and one son, Eugene Jr. They now have 10 grandchildren.

Gene continued his love of sports, that was nourished in high school, by swimming and running. He ran the Boston Marathon on his hands one year and in his wheelchair another year.

When he was participating in wheel chair races, he participated in races in Indiana and Maryland. When he decided to swim, he trained at the Druid Hill Park Pool one year and in his back yard pool another. He attempted to swim the English Channel on three occasions and was defeated by cold water on one and the weather on the two other attempts. After the last swim, Gene decided to return to his first love, running. He trained hard and finally entered the Baltimore Marathon. Gene finished the marathon and said, “ It wasn’t pretty, but I finished.” The next year he entered the 5K portion of the Baltimore Marathon and was quite successful. Gene now runs in several 5K runs because he just loves to run. His goal now is to run across the United States to raise money for the poor and the needy and a couple of his other favorite charities.

As a kid, 14 or 15, the neighborhood boys would play in Baltimore City’s Druid Hill Park. We would sometimes race around the reservoir.

Roberts recalled: "The summer before I went to high school, I spent the summer in DC with my sister and worked in a barber shop cleaning up and shining shoes. On my way to work one day, I saw a body building magazine in a store window. I said to myself that I would like my body to look like that. When I got paid, I bought a set of weights, a bench, and a sit-up board. My sister and her husband allowed me to set up my gym in one of their empty rooms. When I returned home to Baltimore, I built a gym in my basement."

School began in the fall and he attended Forest Park High. "One day my gym teacher instructed us to run around the gym. After observing me run, he recommended that I attend the track and cross country practice. I did and joined the Junior Varsity track team. That winter I also joined the wrestling team. I wrestled in the 138-pound class and successfully out wrestled everyone on the team," said Roberts.

In the junior year of high school, 1964, Roberts won the two-mile track championship for Baltimore City Public Schools. A couple of times that year it was announced over the school PA system when he won a big race. The Sun newspaper featured Roberts in an article, which included a picture of him.

Roberts continued: "I ran all summer, lifted weights, and played basketball at Cloverdale near Druid Hill Park. I recall my mother telling me not to over do it during this period. I certainly didn’t listen, because I simply loved to workout and run. In September, during the cross country season, there was a cross country state championship called the Spike Shoe Meet. I wanted to win that race more than anything; I led all the way right to the tape when three county boys ran passed me.

Shortly after the championship run, Roberts was involved in a fight with some boys in Druid Hill Park. "I sprained my ankle very badly and was forced to use a cane. As a result, I was unable to finish the cross country season. During the wrestling season I was undefeated. I went to a talent show at my twin brother Jim’s school, Carver High. After the show, my brother, his girlfriend and I stood outside talking. Another teenage boy said something to my brother’s girlfriend, I responded, and he pulled out a gun and shot my brother and me. In the hospital they got us mixed up and were going to operate on him, but I was the one who required the operation. They realized the error and I had my appendix removed. I missed the wrestling championship and was unable to run track that season. I trained for two weeks and ran the championship. Surprisingly, I came in 3rd place in the mile with a time of 4:32 and 2nd in the two-mile run with a time of 10:04. That year Wake Forest sent me a letter inviting me to run for their school."

Roberts said that when he graduated from high school he had to make a decision about his future. "I knew I wasn’t the college type, so I decided to enlist in the Marines. I recalled being ten-years old and my oldest brother returned home in his green Marine’s uniform. I was so impressed and vowed to one day be a Marine. My sister’s friend told me that it was not a good idea to go in the Marines because they were fighting in Vietnam. I had never heard of the place before and decided to join despite his warning. I took the necessary test and was sent to Paris Island in the fall of 1965."

Roberts did so well in boot camp that his drill instructor chose him to be one of his Pfcs out of boot camp. "Unfortunately, I came up short on the rifle range, missing the qualifying score by only 4 points. I went Camp LeJuene, N.C., then to Camp Pendleton in San Diego, CA. and finally I was deployed to Vietnam. I carried two Bibles to Viet Nam with me. I recall the Viet Cong shooting at my platoon, suddenly hitting the ground, and the noise from a bullet passing my right ear, so close I could feel its motion; this was my very first day in Vietnam," Roberts said.
One day the Viet Cong hit one of his Companies really hard. "The next day we were sent on a search and destroy mission. We came to a gate and I warned the guys not to bother the gate because it might be booby-trapped. We walked through some trees, there were maybe four or five guys ahead of me, and there was an explosion; I was down. A helicopter arrived to transport me to the field hospital. When I awoke, I was at Clark’s Air Force Base in the Philippines, and was shocked to learn that both of my feet were gone. One of the guys from the mission apologized to me for getting me hurt and I responded, 'Don’t worry about it that is war.'"
Roberts was shipped by plane to California and then to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and on to the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. He would spend the next seven months in Philadelphia. "I went home on crutches, with my left leg still healing after two skin grafts. After about 1 ½ years on crutches, I was able to wear both prostheses without the need for crutches."
On a visit to a friend from high school, Roberts was sitting in her living room and a beautiful young lady appeared on the steps. "I said, 'Wow, who is that?!' She told me that was her cousin and I told her I wanted to meet her. After only three months of dating, we married. Before I met my wife, I was smoking and drinking alcohol. After we were married, I only drank a couple of times," Roberts said.

While Roberts was standing outside of his apartment one beautiful summer day, he thought there had to be an answer to life and death. "I said the Bible is supposed to be God’s word. I later told my wife, Alicia, I wanted to get a Bible so I could see what God had to say. One day, while at work, I was reading my Bible and a lady told me about a couple who could help me with the Bible. We started a Bible study with Tom and Olivia Harriston. They showed us, in the Bible, that we were sinners, Rom. 3:23, and sin brings death Rom 5:12. They also showed us that Christ died for out sins, Rom 5:8, and rose again the third day, Rom 10:9, so we could be saved, forgiven and have eternal life, John 3:16. Now I had the answer to life and death. Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life,' John 11:25. We received the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord on June 26, 1969."

Roberts than began training to swim the English Channel and nicknamed himself the Black Seal. "The nickname symbolized black pride, but when I accepted the Lord Jesus it was no more black or white, it was Jesus. I never called myself the black seal after that," he said.

"I was watching a basketball game on television in 1998 and a commercial came on with someone running. As the camera zoomed in, I saw that both of the legs were artificial, yet she was able to run. I said then that I would do that. On August 24, 1999, I went to Milford Mill track to run, but my wife advised me to start walking first. I started running and only God knows how I made it around that track, it took me 5 ½ minutes! I made a decision to begin running on the street when I could complete five miles on the track. I began each race with the same inspirational quote, 'Just do it in Jesus' name!'"

In October 2000, Roberts tried to run the Marine Corps Marathon, but after twelve miles, had to stop due to lower back problems. In November he tried the Philadelphia Marathon and experienced the same challenges. "My prosthesist told me I needed to do stretches. I went to the Veterans Administration Hospital in 2001 to receive some adjustments. Then, in 2001, I finished the Baltimore Marathon, 26.2 miles, in 8 hours 41 seconds. It completely drained me, spiritually, mentally and physically, but thanks to my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, I was able to finish."

Roberts has run 5ks, 10ks, and 2 half marathons and in 2004 and ran across Maryland, 300 miles running 10 miles a day. "The Maryland run was really difficult, but extremely rewarding," he said. "As I ran, the word of God was my strength. When I went up those Western Maryland Mountains, I said, 'The power of Christ will get me over this mountain.' Running on prosthetic legs has been most difficult, but a most rewarding experience. Every time I run, it is to be a witness (Acts 1:8) for the one who is the answer to life and death, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even when I am not running physically, the race always continues spiritually," he states.

Now he is "running across America For Jesus."

He adds: "Running on prosthetic legs has been most difficult but a rewarding experience. As I run, the Word of God is my strength. Every time I run, it is to be a witness (Acts 1:8) for the one who is the answer to life and death, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even when I am not running physically, the race always continues spiritually. The God of energy, time and space has saved me by his wonderful grace and put me in this Holy race and one day I will see Jesus' face!" (1 John 3:2) Roberts has been training by running practically every day. He has maintained his physical fitness through exercise and eating a proper diet and has received clearance from his doctors for this run. He has also had his prosthesis changed, upgraded, tested and fine-tuned. He says: "The technological advances have been fantastic."Most of all, Roberts has prepared spiritually for this run by keeping it totally focused on Jesus. He prays and reads the bible constantly and has found many scriptures in the Bible that mention or refer to a race. One of the obstacles he faced initially was with his prosthesis. The ones he had were causing the skin to break down on his stumps and the feet of the previous prosthesis would turn/shift from being straight thus inhibiting his ability to run and causing him to fall. However, the Lord led him to a different company that was able to construct the prosthesis he is using today. Further, all of the changes to his prostheses were done shortly before he left to begin the run. While the problems may have discouraged a non-faithful person, Roberts pushed ahead knowing that the Lord will provide, if it is His will.The route Roberts is taking is outlined on the website www.raafj.com so that people can check the calendar on the website to tract his daily progress. Gene's wife, Alicia has taken a sabbatical from her job as a teacher so she can follow him as he runs.

Roberts expects to run from 10 to 20 miles a day, half in the morning and half in the evening. He will break up the day based upon the weather and terrain. Right now he is in the desert. He will run through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, DC, and Maryland. The total run is estimated to be about 3,500 miles.Roberts has three goals for Running Across America for Jesus. The goals are to share and exemplify the love and power of Jesus throughout the country by Running Across America; to inspire others, especially veterans with amputated limbs, to not be hindered by their physical disabilities; to demonstrate the importance of being and keeping spiritually, mentally, and physically fit; and, to raise awareness and money for the poor, the homeless, the disabled, and the underserved in the United States. Roberts was asked how can Christians across America pray for him and how can they get involved?

"Christians and any other persons can pray for Gene's safety and health as he Runs Across America for Jesus. Special notes will be made on the calendar on the web site regarding special prayer requests during the run. People can get involved by telling others about the run and Gene's availability for interviews and speaking engagements during his run," said a spokesperson.

Additionally, you can look at the website to keep up-to-date on his progress and sign the guest book with words of encouragement. Lastly, if you want to contribute to the societal ills that Gene so deeply cares about, they can send a donation to the nonprofit Running Across America for Jesus, PO Box 206, 1498 Reisterstown, MD 21208. The use of all funds donated will be posted on the web site and all donations are tax deductible.Having recently completed a run across Maryland, the Baltimore Marathon, and other runs, Roberts is now running across America – for Jesus!

After a kickoff Sunday church service on July 1, 2007 at Camp Pendleton, located in San Diego, California, the run began from Camp Pendleton Marine Base on July 2, 2007 and proceeds along secondary state roads and highways until concluding in Baltimore, Maryland.

Roberts has the goal of running approximately 20 miles a day and anticipates finishing the run in the spring of 2008.

He has been training for this journey and has received clearance from his physicians. Also, Roberts has specially designed prosthesis that enables him to tolerate the hard and uneven surfaces he will encounter. His wife will follow him in a van throughout the entire run. She has mapped out the route of the run and will update the website as they progress across America.
Gene Roberts is available for interviews and speaking engagements. He is particularly interested in inspiring other veterans, among others.

To arrange an interview or speaking engagement, call 410-298-2777 or 1-800-542-1638. Mail can be sent to Running Across America For Jesus, 1498 Reisterstown Road, #208, Pikesville, MD 21208-3842.

Roberts asks: "Are you running for Jesus? If not, run to Jesus by faith and then you can run for Jesus by faith! (Heb.12:1-2)."

Helping hand: Altoonan one of 11 in world to test new bionic limb

By Ashley Gurbal, agurbal@altoonamirror.com

At first, John German’s morning routine seems as mundane as most — coffee and shuffling into work clothes to begin his day as a specialty medical salesman. But where others are spritzing on cologne and giving their hair a final fluff, German’s daily drill differs slightly as he slides on his prosthetic arm — and bionic hand.

German, 40, who lives in Altoona, is one of 11 people worldwide to be fitted with Touch Bionics i-Limb Hand, the first prosthetic hand with five individually powered digits. Electrical impulses — known as myoelectrical signals — from the muscles in the remaining portion of German’s left arm control the hand, opening and closing it and moving each finger. The signals are sent by electrodes on the skin’s surface.

“There’s a way to do everything,” said German. As he played catch with daughters Maddie, 11, and Lauren, 14, the bionic hand’s plastic fingers opened and closed around the ball.

A bionic dad is the only kind Maddie and Lauren have ever known — German lost his left forearm in April 1987. He suffered from thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition in which a small, vestigial rib near his collarbone was putting pressure on a major artery to his left hand. Several surgeries relieved the pressure, but his hand developed gangrene and was removed.

He was given a hook to replace his left hand and enrolled in an inpatient rehabilitation program but was soon dismissed for trying to make the hook his dominant hand. Today, he’s mostly ambidextrous but relies heavily on his right hand.

“The truth of it is I use (the bionic hand) as a guide on a lot of tasks,” German said, as his plastic fingers slowly used scissors to cut through paper. “Unless you have all day, why would you do it this way?”

After the hook, German was fitted with a less-advanced bionic hand, which he wore for about 17 years. That hand didn’t have individually operated fingers or the array of thumb positions the new one has. He’s only had the i-Limb Hand for about a month but said he could never go back to his former myoelectrical hand — which was more of a C-shaped pincher. With the i-Limb Hand, he can point his index finger and rotate his thumb to meet the side of the index finger to turn a key in a lock or hold a plate — positions that weren’t possible before. The hand is battery-powered and the batteries are recharged every three to four days.

Watching the bionic fingers move — following the signals his brain is sending — is “exciting,” German said.

“It makes me remember what it was like to have a real hand, what it was like 20 years ago,” he said.

Through his prosthetist in Detroit, German (who is originally from Michigan) learned of a skin-like covering for prosthetic arms known as LivingSkin. The company manufactures “high definition silicon coverings” for different types of prothetics, said Phillip Castore, director of operations for LivingSkin.

Interested in a covering for his old hand, about six months ago, German met with a LivingSkin artist. It was at that meeting that German learned of the i-Limb Hand, as LivingSkin manufactures coverings for Touch Bionics, among other prosthetic companies.

“It’s (was) a two-and-a-half hour session,” Castore said. “The artist studied his hand in various light. We’re able to simulate skin tones ... as well as skin. We also do custom nails.”

German was selected as one of the 11 people in Touch Bionics’ market preference study because he is an “extremely demanding” prosthetics user — meaning he uses his prosthetic frequently and for many tasks, said Stuart Mead, chief executive officer of Touch Bionics, which is based in Livingston, Scotland. German’s previous experience with a myoelectrical hand also made him an ideal candidate.

“(German) uses the hand frequently and is able to assess,” Mead said in a telephone interview. “And he tells it as he sees it.”

Mead said that while the majority of those in the study had “very, very positive feedback,” Touch Bionics made some “minor tweaks” to the hand — such as increasing the strength of the wrist — before it was released to the masses July 29 at the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics’ 12th Annual world congress in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The LivingSkin covering fits German’s i-Hand, and he said that while it can slow down the finger’s movements, it also improves the traction of his plastic fingers.

The i-Limb hand cost German $18,450 and the LivingSkin, $10,000. The prosthetic arm is the same one German wore with his old hand, but with modifications to hold the new hand’s batteries. German has about four or five arms for different tasks, including one he modified himself to include a hockey stick. He’s been playing hockey since before he lost his arm.

The arm hangs on the corner bones of German’s stump. Like some other amputees, he occasionally suffers from phantom pain (a sensation as if he still had his arm, and it was in pain), but his prosthesis is comfortable to wear. He removes it to shower, sleep and sometimes while relaxing around the house.

“I clean up the arms before people come over,” said German’s wife, Lisa, with a laugh. “Other people lose their keys; he loses arms. He’ll be watching TV and leave it by the couch, and then he can’t find it in the morning, like, ‘Where’s my arm?’”

At press time, German wasn’t sure if the expense of his new hand or LivingSkin would be covered by insurance, but he said he planned to ‘‘challenge the insurance companies until they pay.’’

‘‘I’ll continue to fight,’’ he said. ‘‘They have to. If they don’t, they’re denying function." ’

Mirror Staff Writer

Ashley Gurbal is at 946-7435.