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NEW PROSTHETIC LEGS GIVE HOPE TO AMPUTEE

WARRIORS -- The power knee uses electronic

sensors in a shoe-pad and Blue Tooth

communication on the ankle.

 

 

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New prosthetic legs give hope to amputees

After having his leg shattered by a rocket propelled grenade in Baghdad, Army Medic John Keith calls his new prosthetic leg his “Cadillac.”

His power knee uses electronic sensors in a shoe-pad and Blue Tooth communication on the ankle.

It sends signals to this leg telling it to do the same thing.

The motorized leg does the lifting for him.

The technology is so advanced the prosthetic devices are designed for specific uses like this one that springs up for runners, and patients often end up with three or four sets, including one for swimming.

Chris Millward of Freeport, Illinois is waiting on his first, after returning from from Iraq and the bomb blast that changed his life.

“Once you realize that big boom, and now it’s pain that you’re feeling and now it’s me. And I’m the hurt one,” says Chris.

He watches the veterans with there new legs and sees his future. “It makes me want mine faster, because I know I can do what they can do,” says Chris.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have sent back six hundred amputees, each set to get the gear and therapy they need for life -- a cost of war borne by the government that therapists say is well worth it.

“They remain active, they don’t become overweight, they don’t become sedentary, and the healthcare costs over a lifetime, we believe, decrease dramatically,” says Dr. Robert Gailey.

John Keith is grateful for the family time. “I’m able to walk farther and go to kids’ softball games, go to pee wee baseball, and go to amusement park with the kids,” says Keith.

The force of spirit and new technology are helping veterans hit a new stride home.

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Larry Scott  --