“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” Romans 10:15
October 17, 2011 by Standing With Hope
Filed under Featured
After giving up both of my legs following my car accident, I knew that God impressed upon my heart to reach others without access to quality prosthetic limbs. As great as our health care system is here in America, there are amputees who can’t afford a limb …and so for a while I served on the board of directors for Oklahoma-based Limbs for Life.
Wanting to reach even more amputees, my heart was pulled beyond our borders to developing countries …where not only were limbs unaffordable for most, but in many places there aren’t even prosthetic services being offered. I shared my with our friends at Wheels for the World, a ministry started by my dear friend, Joni Eareckson-Tada …and they suggested we start in Ghana. Gulping (actually Peter nearly had a cow at the thought of taking me to West Africa), we trusted Joni’s team …and more importantly Christ …and we launched our prosthetic limb outreach in Ghana. (You have to read the whole story in my new book …it will make you laugh and rejoice!)
Clearly understanding the lifetime needs of an amputee, we created an infrastructure to care for each patient’s ongoing requirements. We trained (and continue training) local workers to create custom-fitted carbon fiber sockets for each patients, and then used recycled components, feet, pylons, knees, etc… from used limbs here in the US. (Some materials cannot be recycled and have to be purchased new …but we reuse every possible component from donated limbs)
Starting November 2011, inmates incarcerated with Corrections Corporation of America will launch a brand new work program to help us disassemble the donated used limbs …and then we will ship all the components to West Africa to be used to help others walk.
One of America’s most sacred values is independence …and we promote that value by equipping citizens of other countries with the training and resources to build custom prosthetic limbs for their own people. Contributing to Standing With Hope, you not help provide a limb …but you also:
- Create jobs for local prosthetic technicians
- Make it possible for amputees to return to work.
- Equip children missing limbs to attend school
- Enable a parent missing a leg to raise a family
- And assist people with limb-loss in living an active, independent, and productive lifestyle in cultures where individuals with disabilities are often cast aside.
