Contact: Brandan Cox
Phone: 865/524-8772, ext. 8118
E-mail: bcox@amputee-coalition.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACA Board Member Featured on Cover of Voice of the Diabetic

Longtime Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) board member Charlie Steele is featured in the Winter 2008 issue of Voice of the Diabetic, a publication of the National Federation of the Blind’s Diabetes Action Network.The article, “Moving and Motivating,” is a personal account of the decisions that led to Steele’s amputation and the decisions that helped him recover.

Steele is a lower-extremity amputee as a result of diabetes-related health problems and is today an advocate for educating people with diabetes about managing their health. He also works diligently to promote ACA’s National Peer Network (NPN), a nationwide program providing peer support for people with limb loss. The ACA’s peer visitor program trains people with limb loss to provide support and information for individuals and families as they recover from amputation or the birth of a child with limb difference.

In the article, Steele discusses his struggle with diabetes and the related health risks that he ignored, which ultimately led to his amputation. After Steele’s amputation, he found hope and motivation from a visit by another amputee. This man’s high activity level and motivational spirit encouraged Steele to pursue a healthful lifestyle and reassured him that an active and productive life was still well within his reach.

“He showed me his prosthesis, and my spirits were lifted 100 percent,” Steele says.

Though he still had a tough road ahead of him, including learning to walk and learning to fall properly, he says that “after they teach you how to fall, they teach you to get back up again.” Today, Steele’s goals are to warn others about the dangers of diabetes and to show amputees that there is life after amputation.

To learn more about diabetes and its complications, visit the ACA’s Web site (www.amputee-coalition.org/publications.html) to order SideStep - A Guide to Preventing and Managing Diabetes and Its Complications.  

The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is a national nonprofit consumer educational organization representing people with limb differences. Its mission is to reach out to people with limb loss and to empower them through education, support and advocacy. For more information on becoming a member or making a donation, please visit www.amputee-coalition.org or call 888/267-5669.

No funding from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) is used to support ACA advocacy efforts. The views represented in this message do not necessarily represent the views of the CDC.