not your average amputee

I spent this weekend up at Winter Park doing a charity event called No Barriers. Mal invited me and in the evening I got to hang out with the paradox athletes. Since I'm still suffering from the parties and lack of sleep, I decided to post a few pics and write a real blog tomorrow.

You think you know what a double amputee looks like? Check this girl out. With her prostheses she's over 14 feet tall. Loved the butterfly wings too.

One of the prosthetic designers at the show offered to let me use demo boots to see what it's like to walk with fake feet. My feet are in the boots and the feet you see below the boots are two different types of prosthetics. I got to experience the difference between a stiff foot and one with ankle movement.

This is a new design for a prosthetic foot, made from a plastic called PEEK and aircraft aluminum. I told them the name they had given it was boring and suggested they rename it the Darth Vader foot.

I also am REALLY psyched that I am now the proud owner of a pair of side stix. One of the paradox athletes recommended I talk to the company about my knee problem. They gave me a pair of side stix and then I went for a half mile walk with Jon Arnow. 

We went up and down a rolling hill, then up and down a steep hill, and then up a bunch of rocks. I could not believe the difference that using the side stix made with my leg. It was the first time in over 14 years I've been able to walk down a hill without excruciating pain in my femur. And my leg was a lot more stable. I used the side stix for the rest of the day because I was on my feet (I ended up working 12 hours Friday and Saturday as a volunteer) and I was amazed when I got back to my hotel that my knee not only wasn't swollen but it was barely hurting at all.

I told Jon that I had been feeling a little bummed out because I couldn't do long hikes anymore (after an easy 6 mile hike at Roxborough I couldn't walk the rest of the day). I'm taking my stix out tomorrow to Roxborough to see how they do on a steep-ish 12 mile hike. If they work out Jon said he would do the rim-rim-rim in the grand canyon with me in september and we'll post a story on the side stix web site.

BTW, if you go to their web site you'll see this adorable guy named Nico doing an aerial with the side stix (his leg was amputated right below his hip). He's a competitive soccer player and can out run almost everyone with his stix.

The best part of the weekend was meeting a bunch of athletes that are hardly gimps even if they have a few missing parts.