Kathy

Age: 57
Residence: Cohutta, GA
Prosthetic Donation: Cosmetic below knee prosthesis
Donation Partner: Hanger Clinic, Cartersville, GA

Kathy had just completed her Associate’s degree and was beginning work towards becoming an RN when life pulled a fast one on her. At 49, Kathy was an active lady and, as if school hadn’t kept her busy enough, she was also training to run her first marathon when she twisted a vessel, injuring her calf. What should have been a simple surgery to fix this common athletic injury turned into a nightmare. Experiencing complications, Kathy underwent several more surgeries before switching doctors and discovering she had been the victim of a botched operation. Due to a collapsed stent and infections, Kathy’s leg needed to be amputated below the knee. And as if things couldn’t have gotten worse, by the time she discovered she had been misinformed by the first surgeon regarding the procedures he performed and was ready to file a malpractice suit, it was too late under the state of Tennessee’s laws to sue.

Rather than give up, Kathy made a decision to claim her life back. She eventually got herself back into the gym and became active again, however, as it does for many amputees, Kathy was bothered by people’s stares at her metal leg when wearing skirts and dresses. She asked HAF for a cosmetic, realistic looking prosthesis so that when she interacted with people, they would focus on her, not just her leg. Since her health insurance company deemed the realistic looking leg as not medically necessary, Kathy was left to shell out the cost equivalent of a mid-size car on her own if she wanted to pursue it. At HAF, we couldn’t be more thrilled to help Kathy “live her life”, the way she wants to. And we understand the necessity in having two legs that look the same. We only hope that one day whomever is signing off on the “medically necessary” decision at the insurance companies “gets it” too.