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Madee: Incorporating Her Prosthesis into Every Part of Her Daily Life

Amber Henson
by Amber Henson
Apr 7, 2026

Our patient Madee made a video to show how much she uses her Point Designs Partial Digit prosthesis. After she showed it to the clinical team at our Maple Grove, MN, center, we knew that she needed an article of her own. In the video below, Madee showcases how she uses her finger throughout her day as a forklift repair technician.

As you can see, Madee has come to rely on her device for both basic tasks (can opening, petting cats) and work tasks (opening compartments, spraying aerosols, and much more.) She told her prosthetic team: “Living without my prosthesis, at this point, is the equivalent of losing my finger again. I had to send it back to get repaired and had to have my dad take it to the UPS store because I was crying about it leaving my custody. It was only gone for three days but emotionally it felt like forever." Below, you can see an image of Madee's recently created second prosthesis. The two are very similar, but it means she never needs to be without one.

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Madee’s prosthetic journey started on November 6th, 2024 (in the image below, you can see her on the one year anniversary of her amputation). She was at her job when a workplace accident severed the top half of her right index finger and broke her middle finger. She was taken to the ER, and a trauma surgeon closed her wound. Madee: “I would not look at it. Not because of the loss, or I was worried it would depress me – I just did not want to see the blood and the stitches. That is the only reason I wouldn’t look. So, I wasn’t really sure of what I was dealing with.”

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When Madee went home from the hospital, her mom stepped in. “She was so on it, making sure I was taking my pain medication exactly on schedule. She was waking up in the middle of the night, 1:00 a.m., to have me take my pills. She is a saint.”

After a little over a week, Madee met with a microsurgeon who specializes in hands to discuss revision surgery. “The surgeon explained that I could leave it how it was, how my finger looked after the trauma surgeon in the ER handled it – that it would heal. But it wouldn’t be very pleasant to look at. He explained what he could do to help me, but he was really clear that it was my choice. He told me, ‘If you want, I’ll grind down the bone a bit so there aren’t any remaining sharp pieces at the edge, I’ll clip back the nerves a bit to reduce pain, and I’ll take some skin and stretch it over like this.’ So, I went for it, and it was one of the best decisions of my life honestly. One, I think it looks amazing, in my opinion, for such a traumatic injury. And two, I was taking opioids before, on a schedule, round the clock, but because he clipped those nerves back, within two days of my revision surgery, I was only taking ibuprofen.” In the picture below, you can see her partial finger and how much she wears her device, based on the tan line left by her prosthetic socket.

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By mid-December, Madee was back at the office, doing some transitional, part-time work. "Doing that part-time work, I knew my full-time job was for me because I couldn't handle sitting behind a computer all day, taking phone calls and opening up work orders. I wanted to get back in the field as soon as I could." In mid-February, she was back to full-time work. “I splinted my finger, to protect it. It was hard. Looking back, I can’t believe I was at work for two months before I got my prosthesis in late April. One time, I hit my residual finger on something, and it hurt so bad I had to lie on the ground for five minutes. I do not recommend that. But with my finger splinted, I just didn’t use it, and I got through it until I was able to get my prosthesis.” Becky, her clinical therapy specialist: “One of the reasons we think Madee transitioned so well to using her prosthesis is that because she just never used her remaining index finger, she never engaged in any adaptive behaviors. She just went without it, which can be tough in the short-term, but better in the long run because when she was fit with her prosthesis, she started to use it just like she would any finger.”

One word that Madee does not use to describe herself is “lucky.” “People will say to me, ‘Oh, it’s lucky that you only lost part of your finger’ or ‘You’re lucky you didn’t lose your hand.’ But I wasn’t lucky. This is something I really struggle with – part of me was lost in an accident and just because I didn’t lose more, doesn’t make me lucky. It has nothing to do with luck. People say that stuff so they feel like they made you feel better by saying it, it isn't actually about me or acknowledging the struggles I went through and still go through. It actually discredits my experience with the loss of a digit. It implies that my struggle to cope without my digit isn't valid because I didn't lose more."

Madee is always looking for the opportunity to joke around with people about her accident. “Lots of people think it’s a brace, so they’ll ask how I broke my finger. I'll bring my hand up so it's very visibly a prosthetic and say, 'I guess you could say that I broke it.' A lot of the customers I go to, who I may not see often because I only show up when their forklift is broken, will stare at it. And I have to refocus them, like, ‘Okay, let’s talk about my hand and then please let me get to my job because your forklift is broken and unusable.’ I took a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, recently and I sat down in a restaurant with people next to me that had quite a few drinks. We got to talking and one of the people in the group asked what had happened to my finger and I said, ‘You know how you can feed the giraffes at the zoo?’ And they all flipped out. I did eventually tell them the truth, and we all had a good laugh. My coworkers will call me 'Nubs' which makes many people feel offended for me, but I find it hilarious. If you can't have fun with it then you'll keep yourself from moving on.”

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Madee at a cat cafe when she was visiting Santa Fe. " This cat, Dubii, had an amputated leg. I knew I needed to get a picture of us together with my prosthetic."

Madee is so grateful to her prosthetic care team for helping her get to where she is now. “My prosthesis has changed my life for the better. The only time I have ever gone to work without wearing it is when I sent it in for repairs. When I wear it, it feels like it’s giving my finger a hug. I actually fell asleep wearing it the other day.”

"My father,” Madee told us, ”is a pharmaceutical representative and goes to multiple clinics a day. He told me that he sees people with lower limb amputations wearing a prosthetic or upper limb amputees wearing a prosthetic, but he has never seen anyone else with a partial hand prosthesis. I know there are plenty of people out there that use partial hand prosthetics, but I don't think there are many partial hand amputees that know that it's something that's possible. I've met other people on the job who have lost a digit to accidents like a band saw or crush injury, and they are always surprised to see that I have a prosthetic. Andy, Becky, and Bri – my care team at the Minnesota center [pictured below with Madee] – made it possible for me to go back to work without fear of pain due to another impact injury and they've given me more control in my grip to even prevent impact situations. They practically gave me my confidence back."

Picture of NCC with Madelynn

Another patient from our Maple Grove center, Ashely, had her index finger amputated in a work accident in 2023. Our OT, Becky, considers Ashley and Madee to be super users, a term we use for someone who wears their prosthesis for many of their daily tasks. Becky: “Both Ashley and Madee use Point Designs prostheses. While they live about four hours from our center, their homes are within 20 minutes of each other. Recently, we enjoyed a lunch together and they discussed their experiences since their injuries. It was a fun day!”

Madee and Ashley

While we know our team does a great job listening, providing support and creating functional, comfortable prostheses, none of that compares to meeting someone with a similar limb difference and getting to compare notes.

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Madee: "After my solo travel to Santa Fe, I came up with the idea of getting postage stamps with the state flower and initials in the corner by local artists. So here I have Oregon, Washington and New Mexico, and my newest, Minnesota!"

Getting to know more about Madee’s journey was a great experience and it was so helpful to hear her honest opinions about her revision surgery, her thoughts on people’s reactions to her injuries, and how she’s adapted to using her device.

If you would like to learn more about the prosthetic care we offer at our Maple Grove, MN, center and our four other centers, please contact us. If you’d like to leave a comment or ask us to pass along a message to Madee, please do so below.

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