We all have heard the slogan “start seeing motorcycles.” This slogan is more than catchy; it is a real warning to negligent drivers everywhere who cause motorcycle accidents across the nation. The damages suffered by the victims of these accidents are really put in perspective when a San Francisco-based prosthetics company owner says that a large percentage of his customers became amputees due injuries suffered in a motorcycle wreck.
The prosthetics store owner has made it his goal to make the false appendages he creates “represent personality as well as physicality.” His designs are far from the average prosthetic. He creates prosthetic legs that do more than function; they have style.
Many of his creations include chrome plating, leather coating, laser-etched tattoos and any other creative design his customer wants. “The thought was, if it was beautifully sculpted and crafted, it would change,” he said, “the way a person actually perceives their own body and, hopefully, it would then change the way society sees amputees.” Attempting to mimic a real appendage can never replace the real thing, which is why he says that the typical prosthetic just does not work for some.
Being “unable to replace the real thing” doesn’t even begin to put into perspective what an arm or a leg is worth. Simply imagine for just one moment how your life would change if you lost an appendage? The store owner is reaching to the core of the damages suffered by accident victims. It is not just the cost of purchasing a prosthetic; it is the cost of literally losing a part of what makes you, you.
Source: The Sacramento Bee, “Prosthetics get the personal touch,” Lee Romney, April 9, 2012
