Wounds of War: Advances help amputees cope

From his wheelchair, Jay Fondren of Killeen, Texas, lifts 2-year-old son Micah off the floor and into a booster seat in the family dining room.

The maneuver is difficult because Fondren is missing his right thumb as well as both of his legs.

“You hold that side,” he instructs Micah. “All right, push down. There we go.”

“There we go,” parrots Micah as he twists into an upright position.

The task is routine for Micah. He’s too young to remember his father before an improvised explosive made him one of the more than 3,000 amputee soldiers of the Iraq War.

Fondren said the makeshift bomb detonated on June 3, 2005, changing his life forever. But significant advances in medical prosthetics have made it easier for him to cope with his disability and remain physically active.

Modern battlefield medicine and the prevalence of suicide car bombers, buried roadside mines and improvised explosive devices have combined to make the amputation rate of wounded soldiers in Iraq double that of previous wars, according to Pentagon statistics.

“Amputees are surviving injuries that would have killed them in the past,” said Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, commander of the Army’s Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. “We are doing a far better job of treating them so they don’t bleed to death (on the battlefield).”

He said computers allow the military to do a better job of making and fitting prosthetics for soldiers who will live the rest of their lives without arms or legs.

John Fergason is a civilian contractor at Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and has been making artificial limbs for the military for 20 years. He said computers help map beneath the skin’s surface but he still uses the old-school method of shaping plaster around the stump to make the socket itself. He said this allows him to feel with his hands tiny bumps that might be missed by magnetic resonance imaging.

Fergason said today’s prosthetics are made of stronger material than in the past, and they give amputees more mobility and allow them to lead far more active lives, including participating in sports.

For example, he said, microprocessors can be installed in the knees of prosthetic legs to help with walking speed and style. They can also power a person up stairs. And a company from Iceland announced recently that it has developed an ankle that automatically adjusts to different terrains.

“There were no smart knees 20 years ago,” Fergason said. “You will see even more advances in the next 15 to 20 years.”

Fondren was fitted for artificial legs while undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., shortly after he was wounded in Iraq. He gets around in them, in a wheelchair and in a truck outfitted with special hand controls.

He says he’s not sure he’ll ever be able to play his favorite sport of soccer again, but last year he participated in a Veterans Administration-sponsored ski trip. He also continues to fish and hunt duck, deer and elk.