Ad
Featured
A sense of freedom: NM amputees try a suite of athletic prosthetics at mobility clinic
Published
Modified
Noemi Gallegos almost didn’t go to the Saturday morning mobility clinic at Highland High School. She adamantly felt a little lazy that morning and was going to skip the event until her daughter Yesenia pushed her to go. An above-the-knee amputee, Gallegos has worn a prosthetic on her left leg for the last 40 years and had never run until Saturday’s clinic.
When she arrived at the track at Highland, she was greeted by a group of prosthetists and orthotists from several clinics who helped fit her for a running blade prosthetic. As she took her first steps with her new blade on, her timid look gradually gave way to a giant smile as she became more and more comfortable.
Before she knew it, she was walking, jogging and eventually running strides on the track.
“I’ve never been able to run in my life,” the 46-year-old said. “The closest I’ve gotten was skipping, so this was definitely a big change and something I was looking forward to.”
That sense of joy Gallegos got from running for the first time was also shared by fellow above-the-knee amputee Dow Hohlmayer. A congenital birth defect resulted in Hohlmayer losing his right leg as a baby. Now 25, he had never run in his life until a few weeks ago when he got to try a running blade in the hallway of his prosthetic clinic. But the feeling of to be able to run up and down a track with a blade on was completely different.
“The best way I could describe it is like freedom,” he said. “I’m able to traverse the way I want to, and I’m not limited by what I have physically, so I think freedom is the best way to sum up that (feeling) in one word.”
Both Gallegos and Hohlmayer were part of a group of about 35 amputee patients that participated in a mobility clinic on Saturday. Hosted by several New Mexico-based prosthetist and orthotist clinics, the goal of the event was to give amputees access to outdoor- and athletics-based prosthetics so they could experience what it’s like to run, do yoga, cross fit and swim.
The idea to host the mobility clinic came in response to the bipartisan So New Mexicans Can Move Act, which took effect Jan. 1, 2024. The act mandates that state insurance plans cover prosthetics and orthotics equal to Medicare levels. It also requires insurance plans to cover a second prosthetic device meant for physical activity.
New Mexico native Kyle Stepp, a disabilities advocate and an elite para-triathlete for Team USA, had a hand in crafting the bill. Stepp, who lost his left leg in 2020 following an off-roading biking accident in Angel Fire, assisted with Saturday’s clinic.
He said the event showed the true power of expanding access to physical activity-based prosthetics to all New Mexicans.
Ad
“To be able to see an amputee light up when they get to run for the first time is life-changing,” he said. “Physical activity changes your life and everybody should have access to it, and now that’s what we have in New Mexico.”
It wasn’t just the event participants feeling the heightened emotions on Saturday. Across the street from the track, at the Highland Pool, 71-year-old Bill Arroyo, who is only less than a year removed from having his right leg amputated above the knee following a aneurysm, was swimming for the first time since his lost his leg. His wife of 45 years, Joyce, cheered him on from the side of the pool.
“I’m going to cry,” she said. “Watching him, it’s like he’s regaining who he is and it’s amazing to watch.”
After swimming a few laps across the pool and floating on his back with the aid of Hanger Clinic staff, Arroyo exited the pool and shared a kiss and hug with his wife.
Arroyo said he now plans to seek “bigger and bigger challenges.”
“This have given me the confidence to challenge myself more,” he said.
