Building Limbs and Lives

When the ground shook in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12, the magnitude-7 earthquake left behind an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 instant amputees in a land where there's little mercy for disability. MSNBC report: The nuts and bolts of building a limb, can be found here.

Wounded warriors: Service members learn to live as amputees. Nearly 1,000 U.S. service members have undergone amputations in the eight years of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among their post-battlefield challenges is adjusting to civilian life with a prosthetic. Find this Washington Post story here.

These numbers on their own seem large. But according to the Amputee Coalition of America, in the United States alone, there are approximately 1.7 million people living with limb loss. It is estimated that one out of every 200 people in the U.S. has had an amputation. Details about these facts can be found here.

Regarding Suzanne's progress, she will be undergoing another revision surgery on her right leg next Tuesday the 30th. According to her surgeon's report from last week, she will be in the hospital overnight and is expected to have one more after this, to finally complete the leg revisions.

Off-Road Wheelchair and Battery Charging Prosthetics

MIT student, Amos Winter, is trying to revolutionize the wheelchair. Specifically, he wants to make the most familiar aid to the disabled work in the Third World, where roads are bad, money tight, and the need immense. Check out this article in the Boston Globe, which describes his work, and how he's putting leverage to work. The concept is relatively simple, like all of the greatest ideas. A little more high-concept is the prosthetic foot, which uses the kinetic energy of motion to generate electricity. Found here in the Inhabitat online magazine, the article shows the other extreme of mobility advancements. Both articles are worth visiting if you have a few minutes to spare.