Arrr! Pirate’s Halloween Wish Comes True

Beth Ruehl may not have a ship, a parrot, or even a real treasure map, but this Halloween she sported an authentic wooden "peg leg" that any one-legged pirate would envy. Keith Uuro, CP, and Joey Oliver, a prosthetic technician, both of Alabama Artificial Limb & Orthopedic Service Inc. (AAL&OS), Montgomery, made Beth's holiday wish come true.

In June of 1999 when Beth was 3 years old, an accident claimed her leg below the knee. Her mother credits the fact that Beth was so young when the tragedy occurred as the reason her amputation never slowed her down. She pointed to the fact that only four months after the accident, her daughter donned a ballerina costume and went trick-or-treating on Halloween without skipping a beat.

"You have to understand that Halloween has always been a big family tradition for us," said Raquel Ruehl, Beth's mother. "My kids start thinking about their Halloween costumes right after Easter."

That little 3-year-old ballerina has grown a lot since then, but Halloween still holds a special place in her heart. Because of her adoration of Johnny Depp in his role as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Beth decided that she wanted to be a pirate this year. At a recent follow-up appointment, Beth mentioned the idea to her prosthetist.

Uuro and Oliver soon started discussing the girl's Halloween wish and decided that they would produce a wooden prosthetic leg to complete the pirate costume. AAL&OS's staffis more accustomed to designing and fabricating high-tech prostheses constructed of space-age carbon fiber materials and sometimes even equipped with computer microprocessor componentry. So the decidedly no-tech wooden prostheses did not pose any challenges. Beth received the new leg with a huge smile.

"AAL&OS has always been absolutely wonderful to us," said Raquel. "Glenn Crumpton and his staffare so open and caring. They're constantly on the search for new technology that might benefit Beth. I can't say enough about how awesome they are, but taking the time to make the leg for her costume illustrates exactly what I mean."

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Arrr! Pirate’s Halloween Wish Comes True

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Early Call for da Vinci Nominations

World Champ Does It Again

World Champ Does It Again

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O&P JOBS

Pediatric Orthotic & Prosthetic Clinician Department of Orthopaedic Surgery – UCSF

Prosthetic Technician

Certified Prosthetist Opportunity in Wilmington, NC

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