Women with MS Overcomes Adversity!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Here is a story by The Today Show, Meredith Vierira interviews Jonna Patton who is overcoming the limiting effects of Multiple Sclerosis with the Help of loved ones and a new electronic device by Bioness called the NessL300. Meredith talks to Jonna, husband Tom and Dr. Michael O'Dell.

Prosthetic Center of Excellence is the only Las Vegas O&P Company that is contracted with Bioness to evaluate and fit patients with this NessL300. Should you have any questions regarding this amazing technology and would like to set an appointment for evaluation. Call us at our office 702-384-1410 or email your interests or questions to lvbionics@gmail.com

One-armed shark attack girl runner up in world surfing championship

A girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing has only narrowly lost out on winning the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior Women's Surfing Championships.

By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 11:41AM GMT 12 Jan 2009

Hamilton said of surfing minus one arm: 'I've adapted now and got used to it. It's been five years now so it feels natural.' Photo: REUTERS
Hawaiian Bethany Hamilton was 13 when she was attacked by a 15-foot Tiger shark five years ago.

But the talented youngster refused to quit the sport she loved - despite only being left with one arm to paddle with.

She has overcome her disability to become runner-up in the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior Women's Surfing Championships.

At one point the 18-year-old was in the winning position during the Billabong Pro contest, which was held at Narrabeen in Australia, one of Sydney's best-known surfing beaches.

France's Pauline Ado only pipped her to the title by a narrow margin, but Hamilton was the crowd's favourite for the title.

Before the 18-woman contest she told how she would "love to do well" in the contest, her first attempt to win the junior title.

She said of surfing minus one arm: "I've adapted now and got used to it. It's been five years now so it feels natural."

Despite the success, winning the junior title is just a stepping stone to greater things.

She wants to go on to compete in the main women's ASP tour, which consists of a series of events held throughout the year at the best surfing spots around the globe.

She missed out on a place on the 2009 tour by just two places and is now aiming for a place in 2010.

Gary Dunne of surfing company Rip Curl, who sponsors Hamilton, described her as "an inspiration".

He told the Sydney Daily Telegraph: "The reality is losing her arm has made it much more difficult to catch waves but she has learned how to overcome that and is now up there with the best. She has found a way around it.

"The fact she is able to compete and be in the top 20 in the world is phenomenal."

The company was already sponsoring Hamilton when she was attacked: at the time she was considered to be one of the brightest hopes in women's surfing.

Dunne said that she went surfing just three weeks after the attack. He said: "A shark attack is everyone's worst nightmare but she is just someone who loves surfing."

Worlds Fastest Three Legged Man!

Watch Josh Sundquist, a leg amputee, Paralympic athlete, writer and ... as you are about to see - very professional motivational speaker.

Amity man builds knee for amputee athletes

by Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian
Friday January 09, 2009, 9:37 PM

After Cpl. Garrett Jones lost a leg in Iraq in 2007, he told his doctors he hoped to do two things: have a family and snowboard.

A family should be no problem, they told him. The prospects for an above-the-knee amputee to snowboard, however, were nearly nonexistent.

But two years later, Jones is spinning 360s and boosting big airs at Timberline Ski Area, thanks to an Oregon entrepreneur's perseverance and a unique prosthetic knee. With the XT9, amputees can take part in sports such as snowboarding, wakeboarding and telemark skiing.

Seeing Jones blast down the slopes just might change your idea of what's possible for an above-the-knee amputee.

"If I had my pant leg down, you wouldn't know I was an amputee," said Jones, 23, of Newberg, who made some runs at Timberline this week.

The brain behind the XT9 is Jarem Frye of Amity, a hero among many amputees and prosthetics experts. An amputee himself -- he lost a leg to bone cancer at age 14 while growing up in Utah -- Frye, now 30, spent years struggling on the slopes and tinkering in machine shops to develop the knee.

Symbiotechs USA

• What: Amity company that makes the XT9 Energy Storing Prosthetic Knee, its only product

• Employees: Owners Jarem and Sara Frye, plus an assistant

• Profitability: Jarem Frye says Symbiotechs has been profitable since 2006, the year it was founded

• The XT9: The knee, retailing for $7,000 to $9,000, is assembled in Amity from parts made in machine shops in Oregon, California, Utah and Montana. It enables above-the-knee amputees, for the first time, to participate in extreme sports.

• Quote: "Without that knee I wouldn't be able to ski, I wouldn't be able to snowboard, I wouldn't be able to wakeboard. It's mandatory equipment." -- E.J. Poplawski, professional skier who lost his leg in 2006

"At the time I lost my leg, I was really interested in snowboarding," he said, "but I was told there was no way to do that with the amputation."

He learned to "three-track" ski -- on one leg and a pair of crutches fitted with short skis -- and went on to compete at a national level in adaptive ski racing.

Then in 1996, when he was 18, he watched from a ski lift as a telemark skier made graceful turns down the slope below. Tele skiers, who use bindings that keep their heels free, turn by bending their inside knee.

"Without even thinking about it, I said, 'I'd like to try that someday,'" he said. "The other people on the lift looked at me like I was crazy."

Working as a lift operator at Utah's Park City Mountain Resort, he spent $40 for used tele gear, including leather boots with Rollerblade parts. He strapped in his standard prosthetic leg.

"The first time out, my leg fell off," he said. Duct tape fixed that. The larger problem was his walking leg didn't return resistance when he tried to bend his knee to drop into a turn. "That's when I started realizing I was going to have to come up with a device."

He tried to modify his prosthetic leg with an automotive valve from a wrecking yard. Still not enough. Then he fitted a mountain-bike RockShox shock absorber into an old walking knee. With help from a machining student at Brigham Young University, he developed a prototype in 2000 that enabled him to turn as if he had two legs.

Over the next several years, he tried it out on sports such as wakeboarding, snowboarding and rock climbing. Friends and onlookers told him he should market his creation.

He sold a few by word of mouth. Then in 2006, he and his wife moved to Oregon for jobs that quickly fell through. They launched Symbiotechs USA and began selling the XT9 full time. The company sold 30 in 2006 and, Frye said, has sold 120 more since then.

The knee replicates the role of thigh muscles, said James Liston, a prosthetist at Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics in Salt Lake City. A traditional "walking leg" prosthesis relies on the user to swing it forward with their hip before taking a step. But it can't push back if the user wants to "bend" that leg.

The XTP, in contrast, "resists bending and it actually stores energy and pushes back," Liston said.

The knee is designed for certain sports, so it isn't suitable for everyday use. Frye compares it to walking in a ski boot.

"We don't need to fit every above-the-knee amputee with one, but if there are people who want to do these activities, it's just huge fun," Liston said. "It's so exciting for me, because I've been doing this for 20 years. And things that I thought were impossible I've seen happen."

And the potential market? While many leg amputees have diabetes and probably aren't interested in extreme sports, the National Center for Health Statistics tallied 22,000 above-the-knee leg amputations in 2006, the latest year for which statistics are available.

For people such as Jones, the snowboarding Marine, being able to spend time on Mount Hood is as important as walking.

"It's not the same. It'll never be the same," Jones said. "But snowboarding is my passion, so it doesn't matter. I'm still snowboarding."

Jones returned to Oregon in October from a combat deployment doing intelligence work in Afghanistan. He plans to retire from the Marines in May.

Then he'd like to spend the summer wakeboarding with his XT9 and working on his tricks at Timberline in preparation for adaptive snowboarding competitions.

"I'm fortunate," he said. "That's how I look at it."

-- Matthew Preusch: preusch@bendbroadband.com

Snowboarding amputee

Combating cancer on the slopes (with video)

Ski therapy » Outing helps young victims get past disease.
By Mike Gorrell

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 01/06/2009 10:33:12 AM MSTPark City » Not quite three months after her cancerous left leg was amputated just below the hip, Amanda McDaniel watched Paralympian Monte Meier carve fluid one-legged turns Monday at Park City Mountain Resort.



"That will be you before long," said one of McDaniel's instructors from the National Ability Center.

The high school junior responded with a dubious "Oh, yeah" grin. But then she pushed off with her right leg, maintaining balance with the curved outriggers on the ends of her poles as she followed Meier down the slope.

"You've got it," encouraged her primary instructor, Tracy Riddleberger-Meier (Monte's wife), as the group headed back to First Time chairlift for another run.

McDaniel is one of 13 young cancer patients participating in a "Rehabilitation Ski Trip" conducted annually since 1982 by the Children's Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Many have lost limbs to cancer.

None have lost their zest for life.

"They don't whine," said instructor Vince Barbisan, who was teaching Felipe Olivarez, 21, of Houston, the fine points of sit-skiing.

After bone cancer cost Olivarez his left arm and accentuated other health problems, his physical activity had been reduced to playing video games. But although he has spent little time on snow, this trip has inspired him.

"Skiing is a lot different than anything I'd experienced. It's kind of difficult, but I'm getting the hang of it," he said. "I'm more confident. Next year I'll get a little better."

The chance to instill that kind of outlook prompted pediatric oncologist Norman Jaffee to initiate the trip after he saw how much skiing had done for one of his early patients, Ted Kennedy Jr., who lost a leg to cancer in 1973.

"If it was good enough for Ted Kennedy, it was good enough for my other cancer patients," said Jaffee, who initially took patients to Winter Park, Colo., but switched to Park City because he was impressed by National Ability Center founder Meeche White's commitment to helping people with disabilities.

Besides five days of skiing, the cancer kids have a dance. They have an off day to shop in Park City and, importantly, spend time with peers who are going through what they are going through -- and with older people who have survived cancer and thrived.

"All the people you meet are amazing," said McDaniel, a cheerleader looking forward to using her new prosthetic leg when she returns home to Columbia, Mo. "We've gone through similar but different things. It's nice to talk it out."

She has become friends with Amy Jensen, 18, of Estherville, Iowa, who ran track and cross country before a leg was amputated in July of 2007. Nicknamed "Awesome Amy" by her instructors, her goal is to run the Boston Marathon.

"I never thought I'd be able to ski," she said Monday, her third day on the slopes. "My first day I was scared. My mental was bad. But now I think it's fun."

Beginners like Jensen are continually encouraged by people like Shelby Robin, 21, of Austin, now on her ninth ski trip. "To see their progress is really cool," said the fast-skiing Robin, a big Jupiter Bowl fan whose experience beating cancer motivated her to begin nursing school next week.

Watching Robin progress has been inspirational for Jackie Fehr, her instructor the past half dozen years.

"Once they're on the hill, they forget they're disabled, that there's a problem. After they learn that, they can do anything."

mikeg@sltrib.com

Early Christmas for Las Vegas Homeless.

Prosthetic Center of Excellence Staff, friends and family created an early Christmas dinner celebration for over 300 families that are homeless. We started early Saturday morning of December 13th, cooking BBQ chicken, pasta, green bean salad, rolls, baked cookies and more. Together we enrolled friends to donate used cloths, jackets, socks and blankets. Later in the day we headed down to Owens/ Las Vegas Blvd and distributed the food and items. It was an amazing experience for all of us in sharing our time. We felt so blessed and grateful that together as a company and community, we have chosen to make a difference that truly warmed the hearts of families going through hard times during this holiday season! We encourage each and everyone of you that if you feel it in your heart and you would like to help & support the homeless, we encourage you & your friends to get together and create a community of givers during the winter and holiday season.

Community Answering Call For Help For Mikey

Michael Stolzenberg is a young man with a lot of courage. The avid young athlete and playful spirit suffers from a rare immune disease.
Read Carey Codd's blog about Michael
Click here to donate to Michael's Rehabilitation

Click here for video clip
Reporting Carey Codd
E-mail WESTON (CBS4) ― Just one day after CBS4's Carey Codd showed you the inspirational story of 8-year-old Michael Stolzenburg, you have delivered in way the family couldn't have imagined.

Since we aired Michael's story, viewers like you have donated much needed money for prosthetics and local performers are offering to put on benefit concerts to help Michael. All of this is in addition to a community arranged fundraiser called Miles for Mikey. It will be held on Saturday, December 6th at Tequesta Trace Park in Weston.

Michael is a young man with a lot of courage. The avid young athlete and playful spirit suffers from a rare immune disease.

Last summer Michael contracted an infection from a bacteria found in tropical climates, Chromobacterium Violaceum. Most people can fight it off. But with an immune deficiency disease the bacteria can be fatal.

"He was considered gravely ill," his mother Laura said. "We didn't know if he was gonna make it."

After seven weeks in the hospital, Michael survived. But he sustained oxygen loss to his limbs and doctors were forced to amputate his hands and his feet.

Yet the energetic and vibrant boy exudes happiness. When the family sat down to speak with us Monday, Michael mugged for the cameras and playfully joked with his parents and brothers.

When he put on our microphone he cleverly played the role of a TV reporter, saying, "Testing. Testing. 1-2-3."

It is clear the doctors may have amputated Michael's hands and feet but they did not amputate his spirit.

His father Keith says the ordeal challenged the family but he is bursting with pride over his youngest son's handling of the situation.

"It's a positive energy because Michael has the positive energy," Keith said. "Michael has been as strong as anyone could possibly be in this situation and he's a character."

"Michael gives me strength every single day," Laura said. "His spirit is amazing."

Michael is a character and he loves to play, but he is serious about returning to the sports field. "I want to get back playing sports. My friends, family, watching me, cheering me on," Michael said.

In fact, before his medical emergency Michael had been named quarterback for his pee wee football team, the Weston Warriors.

The family is making a plea for help. Michael needs high quality prosthetics to allow him to play sports and be independent. As he grows, he'll need new prosthetics. The family created the Michael Stolzenberg Rehabilitative Trust to raise money to pay for the prosthetics.

Michael is grateful for the community's prayers and donations. "They're very nice and very kind and I thank them for putting money into the trust," Michael said.

His family hopes Michael's youth will enable him to adapt to the prosthetics and be successful, not only on the athletic field but in life.

"As a family we are doing everything we can to give him a bright future," Laura said. "He will have every type of prosthetic that he needs and wants so he can do whatever he wants --- the same if not better. And in my heart, he will."

You can read more about Mikey, the fundraiser and how you can help by checking out Reporter Carey Codd's blog.

8 Year Old Adam Bender - “Let us play!”

My name is Bernabe Duran, moderator of this blog and I came across Adam Bender in the news and felt that it is important that people know of his vision and purpose in life. Through my personal experience these last 6 years actively participating as a Life Coach and personal effectiveness/leadership mentor, I find that people generally lack a vision/purpose for thier life, especially when it comes to disabilities. Here is a kid, 8 years old who instintively knows his purpose in life. My question and challenge to all of you is "What can you do to push through your own personal challenges to make a difference with someone you may not know? What will be the legacy you leave behind?" I truly hope you enjoy this video of inspiration and take action to be in service to help others who may be down on themselves looking for an angel like yourselves.

Here is a quote from Adam Bender himself!

"I hope that when others see me play, they will be aware that a physical challenge can be overcome when you have the desire and you believe in yourself. My wish is that all children, no matter what their ability, who want to play sports be given the chance. With the help of my family, I want to start an organization that will help kids with physical challenges be able to participate in sports. In my own words “Let us play!”"

Adam Bender

Harnessing The Power Of The Brain

Scott Pelley Reports How Brain Computer Interface May Help The Paralyzed In The Future
(CBS) Once in a while, we run across a science story that is hard to believe until you see it. That's how we felt about this story when we first saw human beings operating computers, writing e-mails, and driving wheelchairs with nothing but their thoughts.

Quietly in a number of laboratories, an astounding technology is developing that directly connects the human brain to a computer. It's like a sudden leap in human evolution - a leap that could one day help paralyzed people to walk again and amputees to move bionic limbs. As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, the connection has already been made for a few people, and for them it has been life changing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scott Mackler was a husband, father and successful neuroscientist when he received perhaps the worst news imaginable. At the age of 40, he could run a marathon in three and a half hours, but it was about that time he discovered he had ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease.

His brain was losing its connection to virtually every muscle in his body. The near-total paralysis would also stop his lungs. He didn't want to live on a ventilator, so nine years ago he recorded this message for his two sons.

"I know the future holds lot of love and joy and pride and that life goes on and I’ll be watching you along the way and I love you very much and I'll see ya," he said in a home video.

Today, Scott Mackler's mind is sharp as ever, but his body has failed. Doctors call it "locked in" syndrome. Scott and his wife Lynn learned to communicate with about the only thing he has left, eye movement.

To signal "yes," Lynn says Scott looks at her; to signal "no," he looks away.

But recently Scott found a new voice. "Can everyone hear the PC? I apologize for the quality of the voice," he asked in writing.

Scott wrote these words, one letter at a time, with nothing but his thoughts and the help of what's called a brain computer interface or "BCI." He wears a cap that picks up the electrical activity of his brain and allows him to select letters simply by thinking about them. Then the computer turns his sentences into speech.

"I hate being helpless and when other people put words in my mouth," he wrote.

"Well, this is a very unusual interview for 60 Minutes. We've done something we never, ever do, and that is we've submitted the questions in advance because it takes Scott a little while to put the answers together using the BCI device," Pelley remarks. "Scott, I understand that earlier in the progression of this disease you said that, at the point you had to go on a ventilator you didn't wanna go on anymore, but today you are on a ventilator. And I'm curious about what changed your mind?"

"Because I can still communicate," Scott replied, with the help of the BCI device.

It isn't fast. It takes 20 seconds or so to select each letter. Scott told 60 Minutes it took him about an hour to write the answers to our 16 questions. But he writes well enough to continue his research and manage his lab at the University of Pennsylvania, where he still goes to work everyday.

"You use this system even to text your sons, for example. And I wonder what it would mean to your life today if the system somehow was taken away from you?" Pelley asks.

Scott says he couldn't work with BCI.

Asked what it has meant to their relationship, Scott's wife Lynn tells Pelley, "Well, he's happier. He can communicate with not just us, but with the world. This gave him his independence. His working, intellectual, scientist independence back."

The system was developed by neuroscientist Dr. Jonathan Wolpaw at New York State's Wadsworth Center.

Click here for the full story!

World record on crutches for Limerick marathon man Simon

Published Date: 28 October 2008
By Petula Martyn
A LIMERICK-based athlete won the hearts of supporters at the Dublin marathon yesterday when he broke a world record for the fastest marathon ever completed on crutches.
There were huge cheers from the crowd when Simon Baker crossed the finish line after completing the course in six hours and 47 minutes, smashing the record by 26 minutes.

The awe-inspiring achievement has earned the 41-year-old a listing in the Guinness Book of Records.

Simon, who is originally from London but who has made Castletroy his home, was one of almost 12,000 competitors to take part in yesterday's event.

Unlike the previous record holder, Simon ran the entire 26 miles 385 yards without the assistance of a prosthetic leg, relying only on his one remaining leg and a pair of crutches.

He lost his leg in a workplace accident four years ago and recently decided to turn his misfortune around and set about raising badly needed funds for Irish based charity, the Bubble Gum Club.

Speaking to the Limerick Leader before the marathon, Simon admitted that he thought his life was over after his leg was amputated.

"It wasn't until I was introduced to some very sick children through the Bubble Gum Club that I realised that losing a leg was absolutely nothing. Running a marathon with one leg is simple compared to what these brave little souls have to deal with every day and anything I can do to help is a pleasure"

The Bubble Gum Club looks after terminally ill children and children in crisis. The charity helps over 2,000 children every year across the country.

MEET MOLLY...SHE'S A GREY SPECKLED PONY

Meet Molly. She's a grey speckled pony who
was abandoned by her owners when Hurricane Katrina hit southern Louisiana . She spent weeks on her own before finally being rescued and taken to a farm where abandoned animals were stockpiled. While there, she was attacked by a pit bull terrier and almost died. Her gnawed right front leg became infected, and her vet went to LSU for help, but LSU was overwhelmed, and this pony was a welfare case.You know how that goes.

But after surgeon Rustin Moore met Molly, he changed his mind He saw how the pony was careful to lie down on different sides so she didn't seem to get sores, and how she allowed people to handle her. She protected her injured leg. She constantly shifted her weight and didn't overload her good leg. She was a smart pony with a serious survival ethic.

Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee, and a temporary artificial limb was built. Molly walked out of the clinic and her story really begins there.

'This was the right horse and the right owner,' Moore insists. Molly happened to be a one-in-a-million patient. She's tough as nails, but sweet, and she was willing to cope with pain. She made it obvious she understood that she was in trouble. The other important factor, according to Moore, is having a truly committed and compliant owner who is dedicated to providing the daily care required over the lifetime of the horse.

Molly's story turns into a parable for life in post-Katrina Louisiana . The little pony gained weight, and her mane finally felt a comb. A human prosthesis designer built her a leg.

The prosthetic has given Molly a whole new life, Allison Barca DVM, Molly's regular vet, reports.
And she asks for it. She will put her little limb out, and come to you and let you know that she wants you to put it on. Sometimes she wants you to take it off too. And sometimes, Molly gets away from Barca. 'It can be pretty bad when you can't catch a three-legged horse,' she laughs.

Most important of all, Molly has a job now. Kay, the rescue farm owner, started taking Molly to shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers. Anywhere she thought that people needed hope. Wherever Molly went, she showed people her pluck. She inspired people, and she had a good time doing it.

'It's obvious to me that Molly had a bigger role to play in life,? Moore said. 'She survived the hurricane, she survived a horrible injury, and now she is giving hope to others.'
Barca concluded, 'She's not back to normal, but she's going to be better. To me, she could be a symbol for New Orleans itself.





This is Molly's most recent prosthesis. The bottom
photo shows the ground surface that she stands on,
which has a smiley face embossed in it. Wherever
Molly goes, she leaves a smiley hoof print behind.
Forward this and share it with all of the animal
lovers that you know.

Amputee Coalition brings youth summer camp to Ohio location

Until Laura Mullen attended the Amputee Coalition of America’s summer camp, the 14-year-old had never met another kid with an amputation.

It’s an opportunity she looks forward to each summer – especially now that the camp has moved to a location near Cincinnati, Laura said.

“I especially like being able to be with amputee kids,” said the Indiana girl. “I could take off my leg anywhere and not have everybody look at me.”

Laura wears a prosthetic leg because of congenital condition that prevented her bones from developing.

The camp is just one of the many services the nonprofit agency provides in Ohio and around the country. The Knoxville, Tenn.-based organization focuses on increasing awareness about amputees in America, advocating for amputees and creating support systems for them.

Three of the 63 campers at the Joy Outdoor Education Center July 20-24 in Clarksville, about 35 miles from Cincinnati, were from Ohio. The coalition rented the camp for one week and spent about $2,000 per camper. The coalition arranges for children from around the country to attend.

Ohio was chosen because coalition staff liked the camp property and also wanted a site in the Midwest to accommodate kids coming from all over the country,

“It’s a great opportunity for kids because at so many other places, they’re not normal.” said Lonnie Nolt, a 30-year-old Columbus man who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident nine years ago. “This is one of the only places where they’re the normal.”

Nolt, who was a counselor at the camp this summer and plans to return, said he was moved when some campers told him, “This week is my favorite vacation of my life.”

Not just camp
In addition to the camps, the coalition also provides peer mentoring opportunities and workshops where amputees can learn skills designed to improve their quality of life. The agency also offers continuing education classes for medical professionals who deal with amputees.

The coalition developed the independent summer camp program in 2002 as an outreach effort for children. The organization also offers a password-protected Web site where young people with amputations can chat with each other online.

The site and the camp offer a place for kids to share thoughts and advice about their medical situations, said Vicki Foster, the manager for outreach and special events for the coalition.

“The focus of the camp is to give these children an opportunity to meet and interact with other children who have similar challenges,” she said.

To help offset costs to the coalition, Parents are asked to donate $500 if they’re able, Foster said.

The camp is open to children ages 10 to 16, she said. Teenagers who are too old to participate as campers are routinely invited to become counselors, Foster said. The practice provides great mentoring opportunities, she said.

Included in the four-day event are discussions about dating, nutrition, healthy lifestyles and peer pressure, Foster said. Attending camp often helps young people become more comfortable with their bodies, Foster said.

“Some amazing conversations take place,” she said.

Parents often report that children come home from camp and start wearing shorts rather than hiding their missing limbs, Foster said.

Confidence building
Linda Mullen, Laura’s mother, noticed a change in her daughter after her first camp experience three years ago.

“It’s given her more confidence and made her less self conscious,” she said.

Attending camp also has made her daughter more willing to take control of her situation, Linda Mullen said, noting that her daughter is more willing to make a doctor’s appointment or other arrangements for her care.

Laura, who was one of this year’s campers, said she enjoys the opportunity to hear and see how other campers lead their lives.

Camp was even better this year thanks to the new location east of Cincinnati, she said.

The center had a high ropes course that was accessible to all campers, she said.

“People that have a disability can actually do it,” she said. “You can take as long as you want.”

Amputee Coalition of America
900 E. Hill Ave., Suite 205
Knoxville, Tenn.
Phone: 888-267-5669
Fax number: 865-525-7919
Web site: amputee-coalition.org
Mission: To reach out to people with limb loss and empower them through education, support and advocacy.
Executive staff: Kendra Calhoun, CEO; and Patricia J. Isenberg, chief operating officer
Board members: David McGill, chairman; Eve Rachel Markewich, vice chairwoman; Kathleen K. Spozio, secretary; Arthur Bassin, treasurer; Jeffrey Cain; Pat Chelf; Marshall J. Cohen; Richard N. Myers Jr.; and Charlie Steele.
Paid staff: 31
Volunteers: Hundreds
Quick facts:
• The coalition advocates for the rights of people with limb loss, and has introduced legislation at the state and federal levels to ensure health insurance companies provide meaningful prosthetic coverage.
• The coalition hosts the largest annual national consumer educational conference specifically for people with limb loss.
• The coalition houses the most comprehensive library available for people with limb loss.
• The coalition’s National Peer Network trains civilian and military peer trainers and peer visitors.


Melissa Kossler Dutton is a freelance writer based in Bexley.

Meet our staff at Prosthetic Center of Excellence!

Back left to right: Myron Calvin - Certified Pedorthist, Rob Phillips - Lab Tech, Nancy Smith - Bookkeeper, Miquel Miralles - Certified Lab Tech, Richard Brunner - Certified Prosthetist, John Cordone - Certified Orthotist, Bernabe Duran - Marketing/Business Development, Kevin Bidwell - Certified Prosthetist & Orthotist, Gwen Webb-Johnson - Owner & Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist

Front left to right: Tracie Carillo - Secretary/Administration, Tracey Flores - Office Manager, Terry Grabill - Administration.

We here at Prosthetic Center of Excellence work as a team to provide the most comprehensive patient service in the O&P Industry locally and abroad! It's important that you know, who the people are behind the scenes, as well as the individuals you see on the front lines of our practice.

We care for people and we would all like to THANK all our patients and referring clientele for your trust and confidence in our practice, We really appreciate your business!

Simple Strokes Therapy Uses Latest Tools to Bring Out Optimal Abilities

ROSALIND GUY | The Daily News

On a recent Wednesday morning at Simple Strokes Therapy in Southaven, 8-year-old Matthew Gary worked with an occupational therapist. Matthew, who has an undiagnosed developmental disorder, is learning to walk and communicate better.

He wears a blue and black glove-like device on his left arm that he uses to drum a beat along with a steady rhythm coming from a nearby computer. It’s not child’s play, though.

Matthew recently was referred to the center where he already has seen progress,which thrills his dad.

Melissa Slade, an occupational therapist with Simple Strokes Therapy, said since Matthew began the therapy sessions, she’s seen a marked improvement in his walking. Another patient, a little girl, now sleeps through the night, she added.

“Every child receives different benefits from this,” Slade said, describing the benefits of the new therapy program.

Simple Strokes Therapy recently began offering the Interactive Metronome, a brain-based rehabilitation assessment and training program. It was developed in the early 1990s to improve the processing abilities that affect attention, motor planning and sequencing.

In recent years, therapy centers like Simple Strokes Therapy have found that the program works well on children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as other developmental disabilities.

Steady growth
The metronome is just one of the tools therapists at the Southaven facility use to help children from newborn to age 21 reach their optimal abilities. They also offer aquatics therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy and Simply Growing, a mother’s day out program for children ages 18 months to 5 years.

The new programs are a sign of the growth Simple Strokes Therapy has seen since the husband-wife ownership team of Trey and Robin Smith opened the center five years ago, said Trey Smith.

When the couple first started the business, they mostly were doing home-based therapy. Back then, Robin Smith, who recently earned her doctorate in physical therapy, was working with children through Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto’s early intervention program.

“They came to Robin and said there’s an opportunity that we would like for you to pursue,” Trey Smith said.

That opportunity was to go into the DeSoto County Schools and provide therapy.

Over time, word got out about the services she was offering, and soon other school systems – Tate County, Marshall County and Holly Springs – were calling.

“The outcomes were good, so by word of mouth she started getting more calls from other school districts,” Trey Smith said. “So it really started out with school-based therapy.”

As the patient base started to grow, the couple began to bring in other therapists to help with the workload.

“In 2003, we were approached by the Mississippi First Steps Early Intervention program to do home-based therapy for children ages 0 to 3,” Smith said. “And that is when we moved into our little facility on Goodman Road in order to have more of an office space just because we were seeing growth and we had actually increased our numbers.”

Teamwork
As they continued to experience more growth within their patient base and in anticipation of even more, the Smiths began building the current facility off Airways Place in 2005 and moved into it last year.

“We’ve grown tremendously in the last three years,” Smith said. “And the outcomes remain positive with all the children.”

Smith’s background is in financial planning and business administration, so he handles the business end of the operation, while his wife enjoys working with the children.

Together, they share joy at seeing the progress children who visit the center make.

Over the past year, more patients are being referred to Simple Strokes from outlying areas, including Memphis, and it’s a trend the owners think will continue. As they do, they said they will continue to add services as needed to suit the needs of the children.

“That’s why we do it,” Robin Smith said. “For the children. It’s all about the children.”

What if you were born with no arms and legs?

Join Central Christian Church on September 20 & 21 in las vegas, with special guest Nick Vujicic (pronounce Vooey-cheech) – a man whose faith helped him to overcome the most difficult obstacles. Hear his story of how God took him from a life without limbs, to a life without limits.

This is truly an uplifting story of overcoming challenges in life with the help of GOD! Should anyone of you be in Las Vegas come out and hear Nick's amazing story of transformation and his journey to making a difference in the world.

Here is a link to hear more about Nick and this up and coming event. Enjoy and be uplifted with an open heart!!!

Central Christian Church Event

Nick Vujicic Website

Phantom Limb Cure: Retraining the Brain

Correcting the distortions in the body "maps" stored in the brain that cause phantom limb pain could be a matter of changing how patients think.
By Lorimer Moseley

I once got hit just above my eye by a cricket ball, which is much like a baseball only harder. One instant, the missile was safely cupped in the wiry fists of a fellow nicknamed The Wooloomooloo Whippet, and the next instant it was rattling my braincage. An hour later, my eye feeling very swollen, I strolled around the Ladies’ Stand awaiting congratulatory warrior-worship type comments. None. Not even one. Nobody commented on my heroics or my brutal injury. I sulked off to the bathroom, the mirror of which revealed that my eye was not in the least bit swollen. I can guarantee it had felt swollen. I had even been able see the lump protruding into my peripheral vision. In fact, as soon as I saw myself in the mirror, the feeling that it was swollen, and the bit of it I could “see,” vanished. How does that work? Well, how our body feels—the awareness we have of our physical self—is constructed by the brain. It depends on the maps of the body that are held within our brain and emerges as a conscious output.

These body maps become altered in people with pathological pain. For example, in phantom limb pain, which involves feeling pain in a limb after it has been amputated, the altered maps may in fact contribute to the pain. One way to treat such pain is by directly training the brain to correct the distorted maps. Another way to treat such pains is by instructing the patient to imagine making certain movements with the phantom limb. Although we don’t know how such motor imagery works in the brain, one possibility is that it, too, corrects the distorted maps.

The Map Moves In a lovely study by neuroscientist Kate MacIver and colleagues from the University of Liverpool, 13 arm amputees with phantom limb pain underwent brain scans before and after a training program in which they imagined movements of their phantom limb during daily periods of relaxation. The key measures from imaging were brain activity evoked by: pursing the lips, opening and closing the intact hand, and opening and closing the phantom hand. Why scan the brain of people with upper limb pain while they purse their lips? There is very good evidence that in amputees with phantom limb pain, the brain maps reorganize so that the representation of the lip (the “virtual” lip) shifts to where the missing hand should be—about four millimeters away. In amputees without phantom limb pain, there is no, or very little, shift. A shift of that size may seem trivial, but considering that the sensory cortex has about 20,000 brain cells per cubic millimeter, it actually represents a monumental change in the response profile of brain cells.

Here is what the team found before training: When the healthy controls pursed their lips, they activated their virtual lips. When they imagined moving their hand, they activated their virtual hand. No surprises there. In contrast, when the amputees pursed their lips or moved their phantom hand, they activated both their virtual lips and their virtual hand. They also activated parts of the sensory cortex that normally represents the other side of the body—the virtual opposite hand if you like. These results are interesting enough but not altogether surprising. They corroborate a growing body of literature that demonstrates that people with pathological pain have distorted maps of the body, or a generalized disinhibition of parts of the brain (reduction of the normal inhibitory control that keeps brain activations in check).

The real punch of this study lies in the changes that were imparted by training. Here is what they found after six to 12 weeks of the training program: nine of the 13 reported that the intensity of their pain had been halved, the amputees started to show the same activation pattern during lip pursing and phantom hand movements as the healthy controls do, and the extent of pain relief and the extent to which brain activations returned to normal were correlated.

One obvious limitation is that, although this study had healthy controls in training for comparison, it did not have a control condition of patients and healthy subjects who did not get the training. So we don’t actually know for sure whether the training program was important in imparting the effects. That said, anyone in the know would be absolutely gobsmacked if it didn’t. Perhaps a more interesting issue is what contribution the two main components of the training might have made to the effect. The obvious aspect is the imagined movements: we know that imagined movements involve the same brain mechanisms as executed movements and we know that practising movements refine those mechanisms. This study clearly suggests that the same processes apply to phantom limbs as well as intact limbs. The less obvious facet of the finding is the relaxation/body scanning part, which actually comprised the bulk of the training sessions. Simply thinking about body parts activates their virtual counterpart—one can’t feel one’s body without using neurons that represent it. Honing in on a particular body part requires inhibitory processes, the loss of which might underpin the extravagant activation patterns that were observed in the pre-training scans. I hope this research group teases out these components in its next study!

The Mutable Brain:

Regardless of the active component, this study gives insight into a possible mechanism of pain relief for people with phantom limb pain. In itself, this finding is terrific, because phantom limb pain is common in amputees, it is resistant to drugs and it can be at least as debilitating as the absence of the limb.The study also corroborates a growing literature on the lability of the human brain. Although brain plasticity might underpin the remapping that contributes to phantom limb pain in the first place, the very same plasticity can also be exploited to return the brain to normal and reduce phantom limb pain. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research Norman Doidge refers to this effect as “the dark side of plasticity.”

Finally, the study raises the bar for those of us trying to develop better and better ways to treat pathological pain conditions. Nevertheless, we still need to improve these protocols. This study reminds us that we can teach an old dog new tricks, but can we get it into the circus?
Are you a scientist? Have you recently read a peer-reviewed paper that you want to write about? Then contact Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer, the science writer behind the blog The Frontal Cortex and the book Proust Was a Neuroscientist.

Acclaimed rock climbers help USF craft better prosthetics

Media General News Service
Cara Fortunato, a nationally-ranked Extremity Games amputee rock climber, scales a climbing wall using her fully articulated prosthesis. Fortunato visited Tampa Friday to assist USF in conducting a study of the metabolic demands of rock climbing with unilateral transfemoral amputees. The goal of the study was to find out which condition works the best and is the most energy efficient--no prosthesis, stubby prosthesis-foot forward and foot backwards, and full articulated walking prosthesis-knee locked and knee unlocked.

By B.C. MANION Media General News Service Published: August 27, 2008

TOWN ’N COUNTRY — Coming off a recent win at the Extremity Games in Michigan, Cara Fortunato quickly scaled the 24-foot wall at Vertical Ventures. The athlete wasn’t aiming for a personal best. She was doing her bit for science. The female rock-climbing champion flew into Tampa for a day last week to help researchers figure out what kind of artificial limb works best for amputees in their quest to climb rock walls. She’s one of three nationally ranked amputee rock climbers who have volunteered in the University of South Florida research project. Each climber scaled the wall at the indoor rock-climbing gym near Tampa International Airport under five conditions. They wore a stubby leg prosthesis with a foot facing forward and one with a foot facing backward; they wore a fully articulated prosthetic leg with a knee lock and one without; and they wore no prosthesis at all. They also wore masks equipped with oxygen sensors to track how much effort each climb took. The goal was to find which condition works best, said Jason Highsmith, a visiting assistant professor at USF’s School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitative Sciences. “We don’t know if one is easier. We know the stubby seems to be preferred by a lot of people. But a lot of people climb with no prosthesis,” Highsmith said. The value of the research extends beyond helping amputee athletes perform well, he said. Rock climbing is one of the therapies used to help wounded war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan to resume active lives, Highsmith said. “The three major military hospitals have all invested in climbing walls,” he said. “They’re looking for lifetime fitness pursuits (to offer to injured veterans). This is something you can do as a lifetime pursuit.” The rock-climbing research is one element in a $1 million federal Department of Education demonstration project granted to USF. Other parts of the demonstration project included developing an artificial hand that kayakers can use, testing artificial knees and creating educational materials, Highsmith said. The educational materials, available free through the project’s Web site, provide practical information for people who are new to the world of prosthetics and orthotics, and to those well-versed in the topics. The site contains everything from common terms, to what acronyms mean, to what new amputees can expect, to where they can turn for funding and more information. Fortunato, who spends most of the year in Crofton, Md., and the rest in Bonita Springs, met Highsmith a few years ago and said she wanted to help him. “What they’re trying to prove and test will help a lot of climbers,” she said. Ronnie Dickson, another nationally ranked climber, also volunteered his time and skills. “We have a lot of war veterans coming back. This is one of the choice sports that some of the guys have been taking up,” Dickson said. “One of the best ways to get through rehab is to really focus on something, to find something that’s physically rewarding and challenging. This seems to be a sport that amputees can take up pretty well.”

Young amputees leap over limits

With record-setting runner as role model, foundation prompts kids to try sports

Ashley Messick, left, of Durham gets a little help from her mother, Ashley Messick, right, on a jump rope routine. Ashley, 9, finds it easier to easier to jump rope without her prosthetic leg. Staff photo by Corey Lowenstein
Story Tools

By Jay Price, Staff Writer
DURHAM -- After 9-year-old Hannah Messick took off her leg to jump rope on just one, 7-year-old Haley Harris had to try it too.
A small experiment, but exactly what organizers of a Saturday program for child amputees were trying to do: spread the idea that it's OK to try just about any physical activity despite missing limbs.
The Children's Amputee Foundation, started by the family of an elite disabled runner from Greensboro, Andrew Lester, invited area child amputees to Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill for a day of sports and games.
Lester, a rising senior at Campbell University who is missing his lower right leg, competes in paralympic track events around the globe and set a world record in the 1,500-meter run.
He told the 10 child amputees who came Saturday that he started running after attending a similar event featuring amputee athletes and that he wanted to do the same for them.
Two other high-achieving young leg amputees -- triathlete Kelly Bruno of Durham and UNC student and Morehead Scholar Stamp Walden of Vass -- also spoke. Bruno told the kids that she played soccer, baseball and basketball, swam, ran track and practiced martial arts before turning to triathlons. In less than two weeks, she is expected to become the first disabled ball girl at a U.S. Open tennis tournament.
The point, though, isn't necessarily to aim for high-level sports but to realize an amputation doesn't mean serious limits to physical activity, Bruno said.
"It doesn't matter what you do, just find something and pursue it," she said.
Then she, Lester and Walden helped the kids try kickball, freeze tag, basketball and foot races.
The event was as much for parents as for the young amputees. The kids often have fewer fears about trying new sports than their parents have about letting them, said Nancy Payne, limb loss clinical nurse specialist at Duke Medical Center.
"The parents will be concerned about what the kids can do and worry that they'll hurt themselves, but when you see this kind of thing," she said, gesturing at a field full of shrieking kids playing kickball, "it's a no-brainer.
"In truth, the kids can do about anything they want."
Physical activity is important for kids missing a limb for the same reasons it's important to other kids, Payne said. An amputation can lure kids into a sedentary lifestyle, especially without role models like Lester, she said.

Camp For Amputees Provides Fun

Web Editor: Kara Matuszewski Posted By: Kristin DiCara, 1 day ago ROME
(NEWS CENTER) -- Camp No Limits teaches amputees that they can still do the same things everyone else can.

Click here for Video

Volunteer Chad Thompson said as campers make new friends and see what other kids can do, they learn to set goals and do activities they never thought they could.

The volunteers teach the campers how to do their daily living activities, either with or without a prothesis.

"I'm here to bond with them, and I'm here to show them all my different types of prothesises and just let them know that there's nothing they can't do," said Carrie Davis. "My motto is, if you don't have an arm, you don't have an excuse, because there is something that is going to help you achieve any goal that you have."

Camp No Limits is a place where kids with amputations can come, and be aware that they're not the only kids out there, said Cameron Clapp. "And also, it's a place where they can build confidence, that they can do anything they want," he said.

Camp no limits has grown from only 3 campers a few years ago, to nearly 40 this year in Maine. Other Camp No Limits are run in California, Idaho, and Florida.

NEWS CENTER

Amputee Marine returns to combat duty

A year after Cpl. Garrett Jones lost his left leg to a bomb in Iraq, he has rejoined his unit in Afghanistan. Improved medical care and prostheses -- and his determination -- made it possible.
By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 6, 2008
CAMP BARBER, AFGHANISTAN --

Just over a year ago, Cpl. Garrett Jones was one of thousands of Marines slogging through a tour of duty in Iraq. Today, he is deployed with the same unit in Afghanistan, but he serves now with an unusual distinction.

Garrett with friendsDozens of insurgents killed in Afghanistan battle
U.S. prepares to boost its forces in Afghanistan
Deadly Taliban attack on U.S. bases raises concerns
On July 23, 2007, Jones was on foot patrol near the Iraqi city of Fallouja when he was injured by a roadside bomb. After the attack, his left leg was amputated above the knee. He developed infections and fevers. His weight dropped from 175 pounds to 125. At 21, Jones faced months of painful rehabilitation and a likely end to his service in the Marine Corps.

One year later, Jones is walking smoothly on a prosthetic leg. He not only continues to serve on active duty, but he has worked his way back to a war zone, serving with his Marine battle buddies in Afghanistan.

In previous wars, Jones would have received a medical discharge and returned to civilian life. But in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the Pentagon has made it possible for some amputees to return to duty -- and for a few to deploy overseas again. Advances in medical care and high-tech prostheses have enabled amputees to function far better.

Jones said he couldn't bear the thought of not deploying with close friends in his unit after he learned last fall that they would be sent to Afghanistan. He also wanted to pave a path for other amputees and show them what's possible, he said.

"I want to be someone an injured Marine can talk to," Jones said. "And I can tell them: 'Times will be rough and not always easy as an amputee, but you can still make great things out of an unfortunate situation.' That's what I want to do."

Sgt. Matthew Leonard, who served with Jones in Iraq and now works beside him at this desert base in southern Afghanistan, said Jones has earned a special status among Marines because he demanded to be sent back to combat.

"He didn't just choose to come -- he fought to come," Leonard said. "We bled and sweated with this guy in Iraq, and he wants to be with us more than anything. That's awesome."

Jones, 22, of Newberg, Ore., is among a small number of Marines who have lost a limb in Iraq or Afghanistan and returned to duty in a war zone. (A Marine Corps spokesman said the Corps is unable to provide accurate figures.)

Sixty-two soldiers, airmen or sailors have lost limbs in combat and returned to active duty, according to spokesmen for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

No information was available for the number of those amputees who have returned to duty in Iraq or Afghanistan; some estimates put the number at about a dozen.

Nearly 900 of the 33,000 total U.S. wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have lost at least one limb, according to the Pentagon. Partly because of manpower shortages and partly to retain veterans with combat experience and other expertise, the military has cleared the way in recent years for amputees and other injured service members to remain on active duty.

Unit commanders decide after consulting military doctors what type of duties to assign amputees, either in the U.S., on an overseas base or in a war zone, said Lt. Col. George Wright, an Army spokesman.

Jones said he had to pass medical tests and prove in training that he could walk effectively, get in and out of a Humvee and perform other physical tasks. Once, while in a simulator that mimics a Humvee rolling over, his prosthesis popped off, he said. He reattached it and continued the drill.

Jones didn't get his first prosthesis until November. By the end of December, he had learned how to snowboard again, a sport he had enjoyed for years. He plans to compete in freestyle snowboarding in the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver, Canada.

"I can do stuff on a snowboard I don't think any other amputee can do," he said. He would compete to win, which would create "good publicity for the Marine Corps," he said.

"He's amazing -- he can do anything," said Cpl. Paul Savage, who works with Jones here at the headquarters for the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, which is based in Twentynine Palms. "There are no limitations with this guy."

Jones looks like a lot of other Marine enlisted men on the base -- young, fit, suntanned and energetic. Except for a limp, he blends in easily. He is engaging and forthright. He discusses his injuries coolly, without a trace of self-consciousness.

"I roll with the punches," he said. "I'll always have some pain and discomfort, and I've accepted that."

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