TAMPA (FOX 13) -
The photos offer a
glimpse of life as Fred Langdale once knew it – a high school athlete spending
most of his time outdoors.
But four short months
ago a near fatal encounter with an eight foot alligator changed that life. Fred's right forearm was lost inside the
gator.
"By the time they
got the arm out of the gator, it was too far gone to reattach," he said.
Before his wounds were
healed, Langdale vowed he'd return to activities he loved.
To do that, he'd need
the help of this team at Hanger Prosthetics.
"I have the best
job in the world and the coolest thing - somebody wheels in and they
walk," said Dan Strzempka of Hanger's Prosthetics.
Strzempka's first
experience with a prosthetic was at age four.
He lost his leg in an accident.
"I never took no
for an answer," he said. "It took me a year to learn how to ride a bike, but I
wasn't going to give up, and it's the same thing I do with my patients."
At Hanger's Sarasota facility,
Dan shows us how prosthetics are formed, molded, sanded and fitted to make them
as comfortable as possible.
"I like the hard
stuff, which is my thing ... love doing it ...easy stuff is boring," he
said.
Those challenges
include making a tail for Winter the Dolphin.
If you remember, Morgan
Freeman played a character based on the role Strzempka played in Winter's
journey.
Today, he continues to
make her tail even better.
"This is the
potion her body goes into. This is her propeller - the fluke - and this is the
actual joint the part that translates
into the energy from here to here," he shows us the tail Winter recently
outgrew.
Computers will soon
track her muscle use, strain and weaknesses.
Similar technology helps humans like Peter Goldblatt
"I had polio when I was
2 years old," he said.
Two years ago
post-polio syndrome set in. He couldn't
stand without support.
"They fitted me with
a brace, which had two modes," he said. "If I misstep, this leg would collapse
and I would go down."
That increased the risk
for problems like hip fractures. Peter was one of a handful of patients and the
first in the United States to try out a new device called C-Brace by Ottobock.
The brains of this
German-made prosthetic are housed on the side an electronic - Nano-tech nervous
system sensing and reacting to Peter's every step.
"I'm just so
grateful I don't have to worry about falling," he said.
Similar types of
sensors control Fred's new version 3, Be-Bionic arm.
"It's similar to
what a normal hand can do," Fred demonstrates for us at his home in
Moorehaven, Fla.
Muscle twitches
transduced and translated into signals his hand can understand.
"I still got two
muscles left in my arm: One here and one there - and one to open and one to
close," as he moves his arm.
This allows him to take
on the world with two hands -- not one.
More information at:
********
Hanger Prosthetics
http://www.hanger.com/Pages/default.aspx
Dan Strzempka
Sarasota, FL
Be-bionic Arm V3
http://bebionic.com/
Ottobock
C-Brace
http://www.ottobockus.com/cps/rde/xchg/ob_us_en/hs.xsl/48970.html
Clearwater Marine
Aquarium
Winter the Dolphin
http://www.seewinter.com/
Dolphin Tale
Warner Brothers
http://dolphintalemovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/index.html#/home
