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Don’t call her a victim—Adrianne Haslet is a survivor. Haslet, who lost her left leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon finish line bombings, was recently hospitalized after a car struck her in a crosswalk in Boston on January 5. She was hit on her left side—the same side as the bombing injuries—and tossed into the air, before flipping over and landing on her left shoulder and left side. At first, she thought the accident left her paralyzed, but with the help of her surgeon and the same team that treated her when she lost her leg, she is regaining mobility....

The bullet probably hit the Union soldier as he was fleeing. It may have struck his cartridge box first, which sent it tumbling through the muscle of his right buttock, broke his right leg and buried itself sideways in his thigh bone just below the hip. His buddies probably carried him as they retreated before the storm of Rebel gun and cannon fire. At the field hospital, the harried surgeons probably took a look at him and moved on to those less seriously wounded. After he died, he was laid in a shallow pit with a dead comrade and the...

FORT DETRICK, Md., April 28, 2010 – In the blockbuster movie “Avatar,” Jake Sully, a former Marine who lost the use of both legs in combat, climbs into a vessel that magically restores his body when he assumes a new, 10-foot-tall avatar identity. A new project being funded through the Advanced Army Medical Technology Initiative promises to bring some of that same technology to real-life wounded warriors to promote their rehabilitation and help to ease their reintegration into society.The Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space project aims to create a virtual world in which military and veteran amputees can swap information...

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Doctors on the U.S. Navy's hospital ship Comfort are fighting gangrenous infections in broken limbs as they try to save the lives, if not the arms and legs, of Haiti's earthquake victims. "Originally we were seeing primarily a lot of orthopedic injuries now we're starting to see those injuries and wounds are infected," Commander Mark Marino, head of nursing on the USNS Comfort, said on a tour of the ship as it was anchored off the coast of Port-au-Prince. Asked how many of the 500 people treated so far on the ship have needed amputations, Marino replied...

HUNDREDS of soldiers who have had arms and legs blown off by the Taliban may find that cash-strapped hospitals cannot afford to fix or replace sophisticated artificial limbs, campaigners warned last night. Since 2006, members of the Armed Forces injured in bomb blasts while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq have been provided with top-range prosthetics by the Ministry of Defence. When they leave the Army, however, their care is passed on to the NHS in what critics described as a postcode lottery for funds. One campaigner said: "The way things are going, ­soldiers risk walking into a hospital with a...

This story is about what happened on one remarkable day in St. Petersburg — Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, to be exact. It's about a chance encounter between a couple of Dickensian characters, a crusty one-legged man who lives in the city, and a sad-eyed little boy from Orlando. ¶ The amazing coincidence of their meeting changed their lives. When the broken man met the broken boy, they began a journey to become whole again. The crusty one-legged man is Bill Hansbury, though everybody calls him Boston Bill because his roots extend to Fenway Park. Pass the lobstah, please. Boston Bill...

Staff Sgt. Bradley K. Gruetzner explains his prosthetic arm to servicemembers at Al-Faw Palace here on Camp Victory, June 21. Photo by Sgt. Kathleen Briere, Multi-National Corps – Iraq. BAGHDAD — Six amputee combat veterans put their uniforms back on and returned to Iraq recently for the first time since sustaining their injuries in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the rotunda of the Al Faw Palace here on Camp Victory, they introduced themselves to hundreds of their brothers and sisters in arms in support of yet another operation, Operation Proper Exit. Operation Proper Exit is a pilot program being...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Scientists are genetically modifying a bizarre looking Mexican salamander, which according to ancient mythology is a transformed Aztec god, in the hope its ability to regenerate body parts will one day help human amputees.

Wearable "chariot" offer hope for amputees and mobility challengedThis invention offers great hope for amputees and people who have mobility issues. They would be able to move around in an upright position. And it looks very cool. Hopefully, this product will be available soon. Video is here Wearable chariot

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 20, 2009 – The National Amputee Golf Association’s First Swing program's mission is twofold: to help military golf instructors learn how to work with wounded warriors and to encourage wounded servicemembers to get back into the swing of an active lifestyle. National Amputee Golf Association founder and President Bob Wilson, a double below-the-knee amputee, demonstrates an iron shot during a First Swing Golf Clinic for wounded warriors on the driving range at Admiral Baker Golf Course in San Diego in February 2009. The next stop on the tour is March 22 and 23, 2009, at Fort...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2008 – When injured servicemembers return home after spending time in a hospital or rehabilitation center, family members often take on the role of caregiver. While this new role can be rewarding for some, to others it can be a daunting task. The Given Limb Foundation, founded in 2007 to improve the lives of amputees, particularly those affected by war, is in the early stages of developing a caregiver education program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here. The program initially will include educating families on traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, wound care and the...

A child who lost his leg is helping soldiers at Walter Reed

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2007 – Servicemembers who lose limbs should be enabled to resume active duty, the administrator of Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Amputee Care Center said yesterday. “When you get severely injured, and you look down and you're missing your foot or your leg or your arm, you think that your life is going to be very different,” Army Maj. David Rozelle told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call. “You can't let that slow you down.” On June 21, 2003, Rozelle was preparing to train a group of Iraqi police recruits in the city of...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2007 – Dozens of military amputees will be part of a record crowd of 26,000 to run the Army Ten-Miler on Oct. 7 at the Pentagon. “It’s hard to believe we are on our fourth year,” Army Maj. David Rozelle said. “Our first year it was just a few of us, our second was 12, and last year we doubled to 24. This year we will be our strongest yet with 30.” Rozelle is team captain of “Missing Parts in Action,” the tongue-in-cheek name for a group of military athletes recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – Servicemembers who have lost limbs as a result of wounds received in Afghanistan or Iraq are receiving the best medical care available, the future director of the new U.S. Army Amputee Patient Care Center annex slated to open at Walter Reed by October 2007 told Defense Health Board members here today. The Defense Department’s medical community provides “world-renowned amputee care, assisting our patients as they return to the highest level of physical, psychological, and emotional function,” retired Army Col. Charles R. Scoville said at a health board meeting at Walter Reed Army Medical Center....

Close window Published online: 28 February 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070226-8 Electric switch could turn on limb regenerationTadpoles use a proton pump to direct tissue regrowth.Heidi Ledford Tadpoles: chop off their tails and they grow back. NHPA Tadpoles can achieve something that humans may only dream of: pull off a tadpole's thick tail or a tiny developing leg, and it'll grow right back — spinal cord, muscles, blood vessels and all. Now researchers have discovered the key regulator of the electrical signal that convinces Xenopus pollywogs to regenerate amputated tails. The results, reported this week in Development, give some researchers hope...

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2006 – Man's best friend is about to become every military amputee's best friend, thanks to the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind and a new pilot program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here. Deuce, a year-and-a-half-old chocolate Labrador retriever, fetches a ball tossed to him by Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Grady, an upper-extremity amputee being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Looking on is Harvey Naranjo, sports and activities coordinator in Walter Reed's Occupational Therapy Amputee Section, who is arranging a pilot program through the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind to provide...

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 – Seeing his artistry on the big screen was a bit of a rush, but former Hollywood sculptor Chuck O'Brien said it's nothing compared to the satisfaction he gets using his art to help transform military amputees. Army Spc. Adam Standfuss, a Minnesota Army National Guardsman wounded in Iraq, looks on as artist Robert Rubino paints a new artificial hand for him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Photo by Michael Dukes  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "You can't go wrong working with heroes," O'Brien said as he sat side by side with two...

A 4,200-mile bike ride would be challenging for anyone. For someone missing a limb, it would seem impossible. But Army veterans Heath Calhoun and Ryan Kelly are proving just how possible it is. Calhoun, a double leg amputee, and Kelly, who lost his right leg, are both participating in Soldier Ride 2005, a cross-country bike trip to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization that assists servicemembers who were injured in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots around the world. Calhoun and Kelly are leading the ride, along with Chris Carney, a bartender from East Hampton, N.Y.,...

The final item in the Sept. 30, 1944 "Activity Report of Virginia Hall," American intelligence agent, was No. XV: "Were you decorated in the Field?" "No," she had typed, "nor any reason to be." The answer was typical of her matter-of-fact sense of duty. But William J. Donovan, known to a generation of spies as "Wild Bill," begged to differ. On May 12, 1945, Maj. Gen. Donovan, director of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, informed President Harry Truman that Hall was, for her extraordinary heroism, to receive the Distinguished Service Cross -- second only to the Medal of Honor....