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'A WHOLE OTHER WORLD' Medford amputee launches Bravely Bionic to aid other young amputees Comment By Tammy Asnicar for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tammy Asnicar for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 9, 2016 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 9, 2016 at 4:06 PM By Tammy Asnicar for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 9, 2016 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 9, 2016 at 4:06 PM » Social News Catlyn Petersen doesn’t think of herself as particularly brave. And she doesn’t claim to be the “Bionic Woman.” Others see Petersen as bravely bionic. A friend even suggested Bravely Bionic as the name and the motto of the nonprofit group Petersen launched last year to empower young amputees. Petersen was born with her left arm amputated just below the elbow. Amniotic band syndrome (ABS) is believed to the cause. ABS occurs when the unborn baby becomes entangled in the fibrous, string-like amniotic bands in the womb. If a band is wrapped tightly around a limb and the blood flow cut off, the limb is either deformed or severed. Petersen established the nonprofit organization to provide equipment, support and education to young amputees and their families. She has recruited a board of directors and is in the process of organizing fundraisers. She also is drawing on her experience in marketing and public relations for Spectrum O&P, Southern Oregon Orthopedics and Touch Bionics to reach out to potential donors and prospective families. She’s hoping that by sharing her own journey she can make a difference in improving the lives of youngsters who are limb-deficient. “Being an amputee is something I have dealt with my entire life,” she says. “By the time I was starting school, putting on a prosthetic arm in the morning was just as normal as brushing my teeth. “Because of my amazing, supportive family, I never believed that being an amputee made me any different or less able to succeed.” After high school, she says, she was on a quest to prove her ability, and find the “beauty in my situation.” She completed two degrees — one in radiology and the other in business — and went to work as an X-ray technician. “I felt I could do anything,” she says. Petersen says she is passionate about helping young amputees grab hold of the same opportunities she’s had “to be the best they can be,” and is eager to share the technology that is now literally at their fingertips. Thanks to a bionic left arm and hand, the Medford woman is able to complete a variety of tasks for the first time in her 28 years, including grasping a cup, picking a flower, writing her name, shaking someone’s hand, stacking dice or blocks, carrying objects in her hand, tying shoelaces, opening a jar of food and hanging laundry. “It’s mind-blowing what I can do now,” she says of her newly developed fine motor skills. “A whole other world has opened up to me." The bionic arm and hand unit is really a computer. Carbon-fiber conductors send pulses — a Morse code of sorts from the muscles in the shoulder and bicep — down the arm to the hand and fingers. The hand looks and moves like a natural hand; six motors operate the fingers and allow them to bend and flex at the joints. There are 14 variable grips programmed to the wearer’s daily activities. “Getting to be a part of the advancing technologies makes it a good time to be a prosthetic user,” Petersen says. But, she adds, despite the advancements, many young amputees are “getting left behind.” She wants to bridge the “large gap” between patients and the services and resources available, and help them navigate the insurance maze. Petersen says she was fortunate to have received assistance from the Shriners from the time she was 6 months old until she was 21. She remembers as a child traveling with her family four to eight times a year to the Shriners’ Hospital for Children in Portland. Later, the trips were less frequent — only three times a year. “I always hoped that one day I could give back . . . in appreciation of what the Shriners did for me,” she says. As a young adult, Petersen faced her greatest challenges. When she no longer qualified for Shriners’ assistance, she had to fight her insurance company to cover the exorbitant costs of prosthetics, physical therapy and occupational therapy. “It took three and a half years to get this (bionic) arm through a long fight with insurance,” she says. “Three and half years of appeals and deny. “I thought it shouldn’t be so hard.” Insurance companies argued that prosthetics — especially bionic prosthetics — are not medically necessary, she says. The bionic arm and hand unit Petersen wears — the "i-limb ultra" manufactured by Touch Bionics — costs about $120,000. Occupational and physical therapy each can cost upwards of $400 an hour. “(The insurance companies) look at the dollar amount ... they don’t look at what the prosthetic is going to do for a person’s life,” she says. When one battle was won, another had to be fought. “There was the battle with myself,” she says. After the emotional ordeal with the insurance companies, she endured long months of conditioning her upper body. She had to strengthen her left shoulder and bicep before she could wear the new five-pound prosthetic — more than three pounds heavier than any she’d ever worn. The conditioning included wearing weights on the wrist of the lighter prosthetic, rowing and swimming. At first, she could wear the prosthetic for only a painful two to four hours day, and then four to six hours. She’s now working up to eight hours a day, and with a trainer continues to “hit the gym hard.” There is also the mental conditioning. Petersen says she has to practice movements 30,000 to 40,000 times before she can master a task without a second thought. That’s why she wants to equip children with bionic prostheses earlier in life. “That will allow a young person to grow with it,” she says. “It will become second nature.” She already has one 5-year-old candidate who was born without fingers. There are seven different options, she says, for this little girl. The goal is to have her fitted with one of them within the year, and maybe in two to five years, equip her with a bionic arm. Despite Petersen’s challenges, she says that “within four months I am where I thought I would be in a year. I surprised myself. The arm surprised me.” She is looking forward to improving her golf game. “I golf for fun, but my family’s very serious about golf,” she says. “Now maybe I can actually drive the ball far.” For more information, contact Petersen at www.bravelybionic.com . Reach Grants Pass freelance writer Tammy Asnicar at [email protected]. By Tammy Asnicar for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tammy Asnicar for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 9, 2016 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 9, 2016 at 4:06 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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