HOUSTON - (Business Wire) Balbir Kaur walked today for the first time in almost two years thanks to Limbs of Love. Desperate without healthcare insurance, Kaur had bought a used limb on eBay for $40 following the loss of her leg because of complications from diabetes. Unfortunately, the limb she bought would never be of use to anyone other than the original owner and Kaur had no hope of ever raising the $15,000 required for a new limb. Today, one day after her birthday, she received the gift of a proper-fitting artificial limb -- a birthday present she
’ll never forget.
Kaur was surprisingly quiet as she stood on her new leg and took her first step. She paused, looked up, clapped her hands and said, “I can’t believe I am walking!” Within a few minutes, she was walking along a set of parallel bars, holding on with just one hand. “You just don’t know what it is like to lose a leg,” said Kaur. “My bedroom is upstairs, and I have been crawling up and down the stairs every day and night for almost two years.
“To think that I can now walk is beyond belief,” said Kaur. “I’m walking for the first time just like a baby. This is a feeling I will never forget!” She was the most excited when she looked in the mirror in the fitting room and saw herself – standing upright. “I can’t believe that is me, look how tall I am!” When asked by her prosthetist, Ben Falls C.P., what she was going to do now that she could walk again, Kaur said, “I’m going to walk right up to the bus stop and go out and find a job.”
According to Joe Sansone, founder of Limbs of Love, there are thousands of patients in the Houston area that have healthcare insurance with policies that do not cover prosthetic limbs. “People just like you and me, who have been paying their ever-increasing health insurance premiums for years, can lose a limb and then find out their policy does not cover the cost of up to $50,000 or more for an artificial limb. The solution, according to Sansone, is state legislation that requires healthcare companies to offer the same coverage as Medicare. Such laws have passed in 11 states and are pending in 30 more. A state bill is expected to reach Houston early next year and there is a national bill HR 5615 that seeks prosthetic parity as well.
Limbs of Love was founded in 2006 by Joe Sansone, CEO of the Amputee and Prosthetic Center. Limbs of Love is a charitable organization whose mission is to provide limbs to amputees in Houston and across Texas who do not have the resources to pay for a prosthetic device. The organization has donated more than nine limbs in the last year.
Amputee and Prosthetic Center, Houston
Holly Urban, 713-747-7647
jsansone@tmcortho.com
www.limbsoflove.com
