For Michael Mason's last story, he had to travel to Baghdad. His article "Iraq's Medical Meltdown" appeared in the July issue of Discover Magazine. This time, Michael came to St. Louis. He is working on a story about one of the most radical surgeries anyone could undergo: hemicorporectomy, which in plain English means the body gets cut in half, right below the belly button.
Last Friday, Mason was in town interviewing Dr. Frank Johnson at St. Louis University, who performs the procedure, and Jon Wilson, CPO, at P&O Care, who has developed a prosthesis that helps these amputees live normal lives. Saturday, he was on to Kansas City to visit one of their patients living with the device, John Neill. Shaped like a bucket and lined with ROHO cushions to distribute pressure, the prosthesis enables hemicorporectomy, or trans-lumbar, amputees to sit upright, walk with their hands, and even drive a car. Without it, they would be confined to a bed, where they could develop the same sores that often caused their amputation.
Jon Wilson’s abstract, “A New Concept in Prosthetic Interface Design For Hemicorporectomy Amputees Utilizing ROHO Comprehension Therapy: A Case Study for a Prosthetist’s Perspective,” received the prestigious Howard R. Thranhardt Lecture Honorarium for the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association. Look for Michael Mason's story about hemicorporectomy in the September or October editions of Discover Magazine, which is currently read by about two million people every month.
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