Group provides artificial leg for woman
Through the Amputee & Prosthetic Center’s Limbs of Love organization, Pasadena resident Debbie Rivera was able to receive a free prosthetic leg and has begun walking again for the first time in almost two years.
For the past 22 months, Rivera has undergone five surgeries to remove part of her left leg due to complications from her diabetes.
“It started out as a blister that never healed,” Rivera’s daughter Crystal Sease said. “They first removed a couple toes, then they did a guillotine cut at the ankle and slowly moved up my leg.”
Rivera also suffered from Red Man’s syndrome, which occurs when the antibiotic vancomycin is administered too quickly into the body.
“It’s a deadly disease that I could have died from in 24 hours,” Rivera said. “It causes you to blister from head to toe. You look like a rotten tomato that’s bursting.”
Cease said that the ordeal was very hard on her mother, who took a while to adjust to her lack of independence.
“That was the hardest part, trying to help out,” Cease said. “It was really hard but there’s nothing you can do.”
Cease heard about Limbs of Love from a friend who saw one of the organization’s vans. After researching the organization, Cease’s sister Robin Davis wrote up a letter to the charity. The sisters were surprised to hear back from the charity 11 days after their letter was sent.
“It took less than two weeks for this to happen,” Cease said. “Limbs of Love has been amazing.”
Limbs of Love is a nonprofit organization that accepts monetary donations and previously owned prosthetic devices for future amputee recipients. Leslie O’Donnell, the Director of Communications for Limbs of Love and the Sugar Land Amputee and Prosthetic Center, said that the organization tries to give away as many limbs as it can a year.
“The Amputee and Prosthetic Center’s founder noticed that there were so many patients that would come in, and we’d run their insurance and they couldn’t afford a limb. We were having to turn people away,” O’Donnell said. “That was very difficult for him to see. He started this charity as a separate part of the company.”
Many of the limbs the organizations receives are from people or children who outgrew them, people have passed away or have simply gotten a new one and have no need for their old one. Through this organization, O’Donnell said they have helped everyone from adults to a recent girl who is competing in the Paralympics as a runner.
When Rivera tried her new leg on, Cease said that the last time she saw a similar smile on her mom was when Cease’s last son was born. Though it has been hard on the entire family, Rivera said it has brought them even closer.
“I’m most looking forward to playing with my grandchildren,” Rivera said. “I can finally chase them around.”
