CSI Limb and Life

Life goes on after limb loss

At 15, Cameron Clapp was a popular, athletic kid. He liked to skateboard with his twin brother and hang out with his buddies in Pismo Beach, California. Then in September 2001, he was hit by a train.

Clapp survived, but the damage was devastating. When he awoke in the hospital four days later, he was missing his right arm and both legs. "Automatically, I was still happy to be alive," he told Current Health. "But I knew I had a long road ahead of me.

According to the National Limb Loss Information Center, about 1.8 million Americans-including 70,000 kids and teens-live with limb loss. Some lose arms or legs to trauma or to diseases such as bone cancer, diabetes, and meningitis (a bacterial infection), and each year in the United States, approximately 1,000 babies are born with missing or incomplete limbs.

The good news is that artificial limbs-also called prostheses-have improved dramatically in recent years. Today prostheses are high-performing pieces of technology. "Kids come in with ideas for designs that will help them with particular sports," says Kevin Carroll, vice president of Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics, in Bethesda, Maryland, which develops artificial limbs for Clapp and thousands of other clients. "Before you know it, you have an ankle for swimming or snowboarding."

Getting a Leg Up

Just three months after his accident, Clapp started learning to use prosthetic legs. He first perfected walking on short legs without knees, commonly known as "stubbies." Once his balance and endurance improved, he upgraded to full-length prosthetic legs. These days, Clapp wears state-of-the-art legs that contain computer chips. The computerized knees adjust to his unique stride, letting him climb stairs and hop curbs in a more natural way. But high-tech legs don't come cheap: Clapp's legs cost about $40,000 each.

Now 20, Clapp is an accomplished athlete and a professional speaker at high schools and prosthetic trade shows as well as a counselor to soldiers who have lost limbs. He's thinking about becoming a prosthetic specialist someday, but for now, he's too busy enjoying himself to worry much about the future, "I've adapted to my situation to live life to the fullest," he says, "My life is good."

Now that you have finished reading the story...

Click on the Link to Cameron Clapp's Website and take a quick look!

Use the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary Link to look up the following words:

Devastating
Trauma
Endurance
Counselor

Using your journals, write the definition in your own words.

Using the Limb and Life Graphic Organizer let's make some connections...fill in the first section by yourself.

During our next class you and a partner will work cooperatively on filling out the remainder of the graphic organizer.

Individually you will also write a reflective paragraph concerning the article using the model below:

Heading

Refective Paragraph on "Limb and Life" by Kirsten Weir

Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Informational Writing

Who: Cameron Clapp
What:
Where:
When:
How:

I enjoyed /did not enjoy the article entitled "Limb and Life" by Kirsten Weir for a three reasons. First, I did / did not like the article because _____________. Secondly, I did / did not like the article because _____________. Lastly, I really liked / disliked _________________. Clearly, it was one of my favorite / least favorite nonfiction informational writing selections our class has read thus far this school year.

Links:

Merriam Webster

Cameron Clapp Website