Stepping up with a leg for Haiti

Jean Burke knows what it's like to lose a leg, so she's eager to help out an amputee in Haiti.

“I went berserk,” says Jean, 77, recalling her reaction when told her left leg had to be amputated below the knee. “I shed a few tears. But what's got to be has got to be.”

So, the Independence woman stepped up after reading about Hanger Orthopedic Group's program to collect no longer used prostheses for victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.

Unable to deliver the leg, Jean called and I drove up to West Village care center in Independence to pick it up.

Sitting in a wheelchair in her private room, wearing a new prosthetic leg, Jean handed me her old leg and smiled.

“I didn't know if I had the right kind,” she says, “but I suppose any kind would work.”

So true.

Adding Jean's leg to Hanger's collection in Cedar Rapids brought the total to 18 legs and feet. One man brought in three legs, one 25 years old.

“The components are very durable,” says Tim Zwanziger, certified prosthetist at Hanger. “A lot of these are made out of carbon fiber material.”

That's why Hanger, with more than 670 centers in the United States including other offices in Iowa City, Dubuque and Waterloo, is collecting used prosthetics for victims. The limbs will be reconditioned, or even disassembled for good parts, before they're shipped off.

Reports speculate that 4,000 to 100,000 victims will need a limb. At $5,000 and up for a prosthetic and fitting, most victims couldn't afford it.

Victims also need to heal for up to 120 days, says Tucker Pettinger, manager of the Hanger practice in Cedar Rapids.

“Now is the time to be collecting and categorizing,” Tucker says, “so you can fit these people as quickly as possible.”

No arms had been received, although one man who came in for an adjustment said he'd bring in a spare. While it's good to keep a spare around if, like Jean, you know it won't be used, now is an ideal time to donate it.

Jean, retired office manager after 29 1/2 years at Peoples Hospital in Independence, had her leg removed Jan. 8, 2008, due to poor circulation and gangrene in her toes.

A diabetic for 15 years, Jean also knows about trauma. She was extricated from a car in 2001 after an accident caused her multiple injuries, including a fractured pelvis.

“I thought there's a good place for it and there's a need,” she says about her spare prosthesis. “Maybe I'll get a little extra in heaven for it.”

Maybe so, for Jean and anyone else who gives a limb they're not using.