A Monumental Change that Few Realized...

[Loyal]

My Great-Great Grandfather Amos Hall went to war with the New York 9th Volunteer Cavalry, along with three brothers during the War of Rebellion (Civil War). He and his brothers participated in significant battles, including Gettysburg. Not long after Gettysburg, he was shot in the leg with a mini-ball, and it had to be amputated. He convalesced at a Civil War hospital at Central Park in New York City.

After being discharged, he made his way home and his wife opened the front door and she sent him away. After living a year down the road in a separate house, they came back together and lived on to create a large family. He was favored by the current Post Master of Randolph, New York, who stepped aside so that he could have job. Yet, it was the massive shock to his family by returning home from war without a leg. Prosthesis was very crude and limited. It would be easier to move along on crutches, I would think, than to try and walk on a fake leg. Look at fairly recent movie with Harrison Ford called the "Fugitive" where they reveal the level of technology/advancement was the stone age compared to today.

Seeing a guy being limited (by regulation against an unfair advantage) in regular competition because his fake leg gave him an advantage, is mind blowing. Watching veterans walk easily with their space age looking fake leg, is an inspiration. Long ago I pitied amputees and secretly thought that being a half a man, was a life not worth living. That was stinkin' thinkin', but was true for me. Now? I marvel at these people ambling around better than I do. I just don't know how great of a change this technology, brought about by war in the Middle East I am sure, has been. Such an increase in the quality of life, it blows me away.

 

[nighttrain]

my great grandfather was a drummer boy in the Civil War, seventh son of a seventh son
train

 

[coconut]

My Great-Great Grandfather Amos Hall went to war with the New York 9th Volunteer Cavalry, along with three brothers during the War of Rebellion (Civil War). He and his brothers participated in significant battles, including Gettysburg. Not long after Gettysburg, he was shot in the leg with a mini-ball, and it had to be amputated. He convalesced at a Civil War hospital at Central Park in New York City.

After being discharged, he made his way home and his wife opened the front door and she sent him away. After living a year down the road in a separate house, they came back together and lived on to create a large family. He was favored by the current Post Master of Randolph, New York, who stepped aside so that he could have job. Yet, it was the massive shock to his family by returning home from war without a leg. Prosthesis was very crude and limited. It would be easier to move along on crutches, I would think, than to try and walk on a fake leg. Look at fairly recent movie with Harrison Ford called the "Fugitive" where they reveal the level of technology/advancement was the stone age compared to today.

Seeing a guy being limited (by regulation against an unfair advantage) in regular competition because his fake leg gave him an advantage, is mind blowing. Watching veterans walk easily with their space age looking fake leg, is an inspiration. Long ago I pitied amputees and secretly thought that being a half a man, was a life not worth living. That was stinkin' thinkin', but was true for me. Now? I marvel at these people ambling around better than I do. I just don't know how great of a change this technology, brought about by war in the Middle East I am sure, has been. Such an increase in the quality of life, it blows me away.

Cool story. Thanks for sharing. There has been advances but nothing on par with a real arm or leg. Amputees are greatly limited in movement. Just because some can run doesn't mean they can maneuver or do other things non amputees never give a second thought. My friend lost his leg in a motorcycle accident 20 years ago. He has had various prosthetics since, the latest a computer controlled leg that takes the step for him. It is remarkable but a poor substitute for his lost leg. He says phantom pain is the worst and has only lessened a little over the 20 years.

Technology is better than nothing for these people but advances in medicine that would allow the transplantation of a donor limb without phantom pain would be the best. It might happen in our lifetime.