Inner Wheel Foundation’s Myoelectric Limb Project Lends a Hand to Those in Need
Andres Alvarez Vasquez of California was born without his right hand, but that hasn’t slowed this active 22-year-old down a bit. At the age of 9, Andres was the first recipient of a myoelectric limb from Inner Wheel Foundation Inc.’s Myoelectric Limb Project — a project that provides both new and recycled prosthetic limbs for use by children during their growing years.
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 Andres Alvarez Vasquez

 Among his many activities, Andres enjoys skateboarding.

Andres Alvarez Vasquez of California was born without his right hand, but that hasn’t slowed this active 22-year-old down a bit. At the age of 9, Andres was the first recipient of a myoelectric limb from Inner Wheel Foundation Inc.’s Myoelectric Limb Project — a project that provides both new and recycled prosthetic limbs for use by children during their growing years.

 

As a 9-year-old child with a congenital limb difference who had worn both passive and body-powered prostheses since he was 4 months old, Andres was considered by Inner Wheel to be a good candidate for using myoelectric limbs, which can be challenging for children to operate. These devices work by using electrodes to transmit a small electrical emission that is generated by normal muscle contraction. Although children as young as 2 can wear and use a myoelectric limb, many families opt for a less expensive prostheses or none at all. With Andres’ experience using prostheses, he successfully used myoelectric limbs while growing up, and in fact still uses one today.

 

Though Inner Wheel USA has been involved in service projects since the 1950s, the Inner Wheel USA Foundation, Inc., was established in 1984 to outfit children with myoelectric limbs. As a child outgrows his or her prosthesis, it gets returned to the organization for a younger or smaller child to use. In this way, the organization is able to save families thousands of dollars while their child is growing up and growing out of limbs yearly. A myoelectric prosthesis for a child can cost approximately $10,000-$15,000, plus another $5,000 for clinical evaluation, training and follow-up visits. This is money that average families simply would not be able to afford.  

 

Furthermore, research has shown that children are more likely to continue to use prostheses if they are fitted early, rather than at an older age. Today, with the advancement of technology, batteries and electrodes are being fitted right into the myoelectric arm rather than on the outside of the arm, making the prosthesis easier to wear and lighter in weight. New materials, such as silicon, make the prosthesis look just like a real arm and hand. 

 

Joan Ferarri-Cotton, chairwoman of Inner Wheel USA Foundation, Inc., considers the greatest value of this to be intangible. She is routinely rewarded in her work when she sees a child accomplish a simple task, such as tying a shoe or simply holding his or her mother’s hand.

 

Christina Reitz, parent to 3-year-old Zozen Reitz, learned about Inner Wheel Foundation’s Myoelectric Limb Project from her son’s prosthetist and has also noticed the confidence that her son gains from wearing a myoelectric limb. Zozen, who is missing his left hand, has been using a myoelectric limb through the project on and off for the past year and half. After learning how to operate both the body-powered limb that the family had purchased and the myoelectric limb loaned to them through Inner Wheel, Christina now asks her son which arm he’d like to wear for the day.

 

“It has really given him confidence to know that he can accomplish something like picking up a book and handing it to his dad,” Christina says. “He takes such great pride in accomplishing little tasks.”

 

Ferarri-Cotton describes the myoelectric prosthesis as “a tool and a help to children trying to cope within a world not always friendly toward those who are different.”  

 

Inner Wheel USA Foundation's Myoelectric Limb Project loans new and used limbs to children with upper extremity limb deficiency.

 

The organization relies upon individual donations to grow its investments and fund the clinics that supply the limbs. This year, it provided a little over $100,000 to the clinics to assist the children, though Ferrari-Cotton wants to do even more. When she’s not speaking about the Myoelectric Limb Project at various public and private events, she’s applying for grant money and beating a path to television media outlets like The Oprah Winfrey Show hoping to raise awareness for the project and fund more clinics.

 

“My goal is to reach investments of $1.5 million by the time my term is up in June 2007,” she says.

 

Andres loves myoelectric limbs because they kept him active and healthy during his childhood. The body-powered harnesses of other upper-extremity prostheses gave him scoliosis, so he was delighted to be able to wear a more comfortable myoelectric device. In high school, Andres was co-captain of his wrestling team and went on to the national championships in Junior Lifeguard six years in a row. 

 

Now an energetic college student, Andres is happy to be a mentor to young kids with physical differences because he understands how difficult it can be to find accepting friends.

 

He advises others with visible physical differences to always “think of yourself as normal, because if you don’t, then you won’t be. If you show confidence, others will follow.”

 

Although Andres speaks like a mature young man who has learned from his hardship, he also certainly knows how to have fun. He admits to telling tall tales about a shark attack to curious onlookers who asked him about his arm when he was in high school.

 

“It’s more interesting than saying, ‘I was born this way,’” he says with a laugh.

 

It’s clear that the people involved in Inner Wheel USA Foundation, Inc., believe in helping upper-extremity amputees and children with limb differences enjoy a higher quality of life. It is also clear from Andres’ experience that their work is paying off.

 
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