Mitchell
POA Success Stories
Mitchell
Prior to his amputations, Mitchell participated in competitive pistol shooting and hopes to return to competitions soon.
Mitchell became a patient at POA and Handspring in the fall of 2020 after losing both legs and arms because of sepsis earlier that year.
The infection first led to Mitchell needing both arms amputated below the elbow, and shortly after, Mitchell also required his left leg to be amputated below the knee and his right leg to be amputated through the knee joint (knee disarticulation).
Mitchell is a dedicated and proud husband to his wife and father to his two young children. Prior to his amputations, Mitchell participated in competitive pistol shooting and hopes to return to competitive shooting soon.
While Mitchell was being treated at Helen Hayes following his amputations, he was provided bilateral body powered upper extremity prostheses to try to give him some source of independence. In October 2020, Mitchell came to POA to begin his pre-prosthetic care where he met with our lower limb and upper limb specialists.
Since then, Mitchell has been working extremely hard with his healthcare team! Mitchell uses his lower limb prosthetics to walk and is able to do stairs now! Mitchell is also becoming a pro at his myoelectric arm prostheses and is able to do so many more tasks independently.
Due to Mitch’s quadrilateral limb involvement, we discussed the option of providing myoelectric prosthetic arms in order to reduce the bulk and complexity of his cabling and suspension, as well as provide him more independent function. While it took over a year and many levels of appeal to receive approval, we were able to fit Mitchell with bilateral myoelectric arms including ilimb multi-articulated hands that allow for multiple different grip patterns and increased function.
With the progression of his upper extremity prostheses, Mitchell has also made significant progress in his ability to ambulate. He received aggressive physical therapy and has gotten to the point where he can walk with arm crutches independently. He continues to make progress towards reaching his functional goals and his prior level of activity.
