Brace

March came in like a lamb. Is it going to go out like a lion? It snowed Easter Sunday, but it did not stick for long.

I've been in the process of getting some new hardware since the end of December for a drop foot that occurred because of nerve damage from a herniated disc and arthritis in my back. Monday was the first day I wore it home and the Hangar technician said I'm going to have to learn to walk again. I have to remember to lift my knee and bring my foot down to the surface. Told my husband I feel like I'm peddling a bicycle.   I have been unconsciously scooting the heel of my foot along the ground to compensate for not being able to lift my foot normally into a stepping position.

In one of my calls to the company, they put me on hold, and that is where I learned of the company's history. It's been around for 150 years and was begun by a Confederate soldier who was one of the first amputees of the American Civil War.  I have a list acquired during our homeschooling years of all the inventions of the Civil War, but I don't believe this was on the list. Too bad, because I thought this one was cool beans!  I went to the website to read his history and this is what I found:

“Today I am thankful for what seemed then to me nothing but a blunder of fate, but which was to prove instead a great opportunity.” ~ James Edward Hangar (1843-1919).

 After losing his leg to a cannonball, he invented a revolutionary prosthetic leg for himself out of wooden barrel staves  (watch this nifty video) and then began manufacturing the devices to aid fellow wounded soldiers. In the 1950s, his company added in orthotic services and in 2007, they acquired a diabetic shoe company to make what I brought home Monday to wear.

I praise God for James Edward Hangar's inventive vision for his new leg!   

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More to Read: 

• (off-site) Brace Bling
• Disabled Placard Paper Receipt Fold
• Mending Broken Soldiers: The Union and Confederate Programs to Supply Artificial Limbs. By Guy R. Hasegawa. 2012. Google Books.