The Gifts That People with Upper Limb Differences Give to Others

Some people with an upper limb difference don’t even need to meet or chat with a new amputee to give them a gift. Our patient, Faith, has a congenital limb difference and found herself limited by the two prosthetic devices she had, a body-powered prosthesis and a custom silicone restoration. “I follow this woman named Angel Giuffria [also an Arm Dynamics patient] on Instagram. I remember finding her for the first time and learning she was also a congenital amputee and then following her and just being in awe about her bebionic hand. I was in awe about all the things that she was doing, and I thought, oh my gosh, I would love that. And so, she was my inspiration to looking into myoelectric devices.” We heard a similar story from our patient Candice. She didn’t like wearing a prosthesis as a child, so she gave it up. As an adult, she started to see people on social media wearing really cool myoelectric devices, began to look into them, and now she has myoelectric fingers. So, you never know who you’ll be influencing when you post!

Lastly, we’ll tell you a story about Abram and Angie. Abram was injured at work in late 2019, losing his left hand and wrist. Abram was devastated but soon found himself inspired to move forward by a documentary that features the limb loss story of Eduardo Garcia, an upper limb amputee and a chef. After watching it, Abram decided to post about his life without a hand on Instagram.

In early 2020, Angie was injured in an off-roading accident, losing her pinky, ring and middle fingers and part of her palm. We’ll let her take it from here: “It was a very long and painful recovery process, but I knew I needed to stay positive. I’ve always been a naturally positive person, but this kind of positivity took hard work and dedication. I knew I had to talk to someone that knew what I was going through. Of course, everyone in my life was there to support me, but none of them truly knew my struggles. I needed relatability. So, I took to social media. I started searching stuff that I had never even thought of searching before. Most of the ‘hashtag amputee’ posts that I found were lower limb amputees. I felt like that was kind of relatable but not what I was searching for. Then I stumbled across Abram. I saw that he was a full hand amputee, so I decided to reach out and send him a message. I don’t even really know what I was looking for in messaging him, but I just wanted someone that I could share stories and experiences with and also get advice from since I was so new to this amputee thing. He messaged me right back and even before reading his message I felt a sense of security. As we chatted, I found out that he lost his hand only 16 weeks before me in a terrible work accident. I instantly felt a connection to him. As I lay in bed in pain we chatted back and forth multiple times a week. He was a busy man but always found time to reach out to me to check in and see how I was doing. I think we helped each other. I realize that now because I always reach out to new amputees and not only am I helping them, but in doing so they help me just as much. The amputee community is truly amazing.” Abe and Angie are pictured below.