Claudia Castellanos with Son Xavier
Claudia Castellanos

Claudia Castellanos

Above the Elbow Amputee

Claudia Castellanos had been working at an onion packing company for 19 years when she lost her balance going up a ladder and her jacket sleeve got caught in the chain of a conveyor belt. The accident severed her left arm above the elbow. Her Workers’ Comp nurse case manager referred her to our Arm Dynamics center in Portland, OR, where she traveled from her home in Idaho.

After three days of working with her prosthetist and occupational therapist, Claudia was wearing a preliminary prosthesis. She was excited to return home and show her son, Xavier, how it worked and what she could do with it. She started working out with a personal trainer and began moving forward with her life.

Claudia is back on the job, enjoying life with her son, and says she's in a really good place both physically and emotionally.

I had to reshape my thinking to say, ‘You’re not a lesser person because you have one arm. You are useful in other ways.’ I think that was one of the biggest things I had to learn."