Help Bruce get his prosthetic arm

Hi my name is Bruce Mowrey I am fundraising to get a Hero Arm made by Open Bionics.

 

Before I had my accident I drove semi trucks for 13 years, I was heading for my 14th year when I lost my right hand in a tragic accident. I got it caught in a cooling fan on a front end loader. It only took a few seconds for the machine to take my hand and parts of my right arm.

 

After I healed, which was about a year to fully heal from my injuries and skin grafts, I went back to work, operating heavy equipment. I worked at a landfill. It was a great job. We had all the big toys and the biggest sandbox in the county. I worked there for 9 more years. I could run everything they had except for the road grader. I could move it just could not make it work, it had too much to do all at the same time for one hand to keep up with.

 

I then went on to repairing fiberglass boats, after a year of that my body was done, I had worn out my left side from over compensation for my right not being able to work as hard. From there I concentrated on raising my then 9 year old son and being there for him. By that time I could not work anymore the pain was just too much to bear so it was time to slow down.

 

I still kept busy by making one off motorcycle parts out of copper brass, and stainless steel but it did not pay a lot. I also made stained glass windows, and small stained glass pieces. Glass art is fun but again did not pay the bills. I finally had to go on social security.

My wife and I are both retired and on SSI. We have no retirement monies; no stocks, bonds, IRA's or 401K's. We live paycheck to paycheck, in a 36 year old mobile home my wife bought before we were married. It sits on a rented lot in a mobile home park. We have 2 vehicles; a 2004 Saturn SUV and a 1972 Ford truck.  We've nothing of value to sell. And though our monthly income is listed as "below government poverty lines", we do not qualify for government assistance of any kind. My wife has applied for just about everything. We couldn't even get energy assistance for our monthly power bills because the recent raise SSI gave everyone puts us over the limit to get that kind of help. We utilize the local food bank every month so at least there is that.

 

I have a prosthetic arm with a work hook on it. I have had this style arm forever. It is heavy and has no ventilation, so on warm to hot days it becomes a swamp inside and I have to remove it several times a day to dry it out and dry my arm so I can put it back on. The end piece is so worn out, the hook is loose and falls out. The arm itself is delaminating so I have duct tape on those areas. The strap that goes above my elbow is stretched out and keeps sliding off. If I lift anything too heavy, the entire arm falls off. At times, when driving, the hook has come off in the middle of shifting gears.

 

I remember the first arm I got shortly after I was released from hospital. I remember the Doc asking me how it felt, I told him I have never had one before so I don't know what it should feel like. When the Hero Arm came out from Open Bionics, its all I could think about. You just cannot imagine what an impact losing a limb is like, let alone being right handed and losing your right hand. I have done my best with what I have been given thus far, but to  have the Hero Arm would be tremendously life changing for me in ways I cannot even begin to express. Thank you and God Bless.....

In case anyone is questioning the validity of this fundraiser, I wanted to give you a link we recently made so that you can see that I do in fact have no right hand and wear a prosthetic arm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVIvGWiDYHo

 

To get the Open Bionics Hero Arm would be a game changer as far as usability and comfort goes. Please take a look at this video that shows you what the Hero Arm is: -

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1RT4KpJWzw