PROSTHETIC ENHANCE INDEPENDENCE
BY TRACEE SIOUX

Whether it’s enhanced athletic ability or simply being able to reach cookies on the counter, independence makes an enormous impact on quality of life.

Spencer Hawk is an active, bright 10-year-old. If all goes well with an upcoming surgery, he’ll be getting new prostheses from Prosthetic and Orthotic Group in Fort Collins and Loveland in August. Spencer and his family hope new legs will allow him more independence as he matures and his interests broaden.
Spencer was born with Thrombocytopenia-Absent radius (TAR) syndrome, causing, among other health concerns, painful bent legs and very short arms. In 2008, Spencer’s left leg was amputated, and doctors attempted to straighten his right leg with a titanium rod.

“My legs were bent, and since they were bent, all I could do was scoot on my knees, but it would hurt my knees all the time, so I could not stand up,” says Spencer. “I had a knee scoot and I always got wounds on my knees.”

“Double amputees rely solely on their arms, but Spencer’s arms are so short, they really wanted to save the leg,” recalls Jennifer Powell, Spencer’s mother. The concern was with Spencer falling forward without normal-length arms to catch him. A natural leg supplies more balance than a prosthesis.

After a time, complications and excruciating pain rendered his right foot non-functional. Six months of unendurable pain later without achieving a functioning leg, Spencer’s right leg was amputated as well.

Spencer currently has ill-fitting prosthetic legs that he doesn’t like to wear. He’s grown out of them, they are too heavy, and the feet don’t keep his balance as well as he’d like. When he falls, it’s much further and hurts far more than when he falls from his residual limbs.

Without his prostheses, Spencer skateboards, walks, takes karate classes and is on a swim team. With prostheses, Spencer can reach higher things, walk on hard surfaces, and achieve a height more equivalent to his peers.

“When I can’t reach things that are taller than me, I can get in my legs and reach the thing that I need,” he says. “I can walk around in them, like my stumps, but with my stumps alone I can only walk on soft surfaces, while on my legs I can walk on hard surfaces. With stump liners I can walk on soft and hard surfaces, but I’m still going to be shorter.”

“With legs he can look people in the eye and be able to reach things; since he was born with short arms, the height is a big thing,” says Powell.