Upper Limb Amputees Inspiring Other Upper Limb Amputees

There are many posts out there in the social media world calling people with a limb difference “inspiring.” There are also many people out there who find this annoying. People don’t live their lives with the purpose of being inspiring to others. We have heard many stories of people out in public stopping someone with a limb difference, either upper or lower, and telling them things like “Wow! You inspire me,” or “I don’t think I could do what you do,” or “Good for you, getting out there.” While many people with a limb difference know these sentiments may be well-intentioned, they are generally not appreciated.

But there are times when someone with an upper limb difference may not mind at all about being inspiring. Like when they are inspiring someone else with a limb difference.

Abe Baker was injured on the job and lost his hand and his arm below his elbow. In the days and weeks after his injury, Abe was having a hard time thinking about what the future might look like. Then, “I watched a documentary called ‘Charged’ about a chef and him losing his arm. His name is Eduardo Garcia and he was an inspiration to me.” Eduardo is an Arm Dynamics patient.

Abe’s wife, Susan, saw an immediate change in Abe: “When that show clicked off, he was like, ‘That’s it. I’m not letting this stop me. I’m not letting it get me down.’” Abe continued, “I just knew that I had to keep providing for my family. And I couldn’t stop.” You can watch Abe expand on this in his patient profile video below:

The ability to watch someone else’s story, or read about them, and know that you have gone through similar trauma can be life-changing. Susan: “I think there is a bond between people who have lost a limb.” Abe took his experience and paid it forward. “One of the things that Abe’s really enjoyed is when people reach out to him for advice.” Abe expands on that, “There’s more happiness in giving than receiving.”

To that end, Abe created The Wounded Wing Foundation. According to the foundation’s site: “I hope to build a foundation for amputees that don’t have the means to get the things they need, as well as emotional support when a tragedy strikes.” The foundation’s secretary is fellow Arm Dynamics patient Angie Coe.

We are so happy to know that our patients like Eduardo inspire patients like Abe, who go on to inspire patients like Angie and others in the limb different community. That is why we have a peer-support network available to our patients.

If you would like to learn more about how we can help you connect to the resources you may need after an amputation, including prosthetic care and peer support, please contact us. Our prosthetists and technicians use our Comprehensive Accelerated Fitting Process™ to get our patients back to their life and work quickly, and our clinical therapy specialists teach our patients how to use their devices. Thank you to Abe (and Eduardo!) for sharing their stories of recovery. If you’d like to leave a comment regarding this article or for Abe, please do so below.