I just added a link in my sidebar to donate to Survivor Corps. They used to be called the Landmine Survivors Network. Ever since I first heard about what land mines do to people and then when Princess Diana and Heather Mills both took up that cause, I have wanted to try to find ways to help victims of the single largest cause of amputation in the world.
Sure these weapons should not even exist and I am thrilled that organizations like Survivor Corps exist to fight at the international level for banning them. But I initially was focused on the individual level of what happens to a very poor person in one of these countries where landmines and now cluster bombs blow off the limb of a child. These people have great difficulty affording a prosthesis. As I have written here, we think it is bad when the $50,000 state-of-the-art microprocessor prosthesis is not covered by insurance or even when it is the best insurance covers only 80%; but even my "old" technology leg cost over $5,000 and for people who live on $2 per day that is not going to happen. As I have said here and in my book, a prosthesis is not a luxury and it's not a piece of "durable medical equipment" as the insurance companies categorize it. A prosthesis is one of the most critical elements towards survivorship. Why? Because it helps someone beaten down by the trauma of amputation regain mobility, participation, normalcy and through those steps also regain the most critical component of recovery: confidence.
The Survivor Corps was founded by Jerry White who himself lost his leg in a landmine accident. He went through pain, the huge psychic challenges this kind of trauma and disability causes and rebuilt himself and his life by fighting back. He has written a book about his story and espouses a philosophy very similar to mine. His book is called I Will Not Be Broken and the shortest possible outline of his philosophy is
- Face facts
- Choose life
- Reach out
- Get moving
- Give back
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