Photograph of Danny Freund courtesy of OPAF.
The Orthotic & Prosthetic Assistance Fund (OPAF) has awarded the 2010 Dale Yasukawa Memorial Scholarship to Danny Freund of Princeton, New Jersey. Freund was selected from a panel of applicants who are currently enrolled in Northwestern University’s Prosthetics-Orthotics Center (NUPOC), Chicago, Illinois. Freund may use the $500 scholarship to defray O&P meeting registration fees or to help offset schooling expenses.
Freund thanked OPAF for its generosity in awarding him the scholarship.
“Going back to school as an adult is not easy, but I am totally enjoying it, and I feel that my path is a good one,” Freund was quoted as saying in an OPAF press release. “There is so much to learn in such a short period of time, but I am confident that this training will allow me to make a difference for so many amputees who are in the same situation where I was so many years ago. Hopefully the patients that I will treat will go out into the world and inspire people for generations.”
Freund graduated from the Schreyer Honors College at Pennsylvania State University (SHC PSU), University Park, and has served as a patient model for Otto Bock Healthcare, Minneapolis, Minnesota, since 2006. His right leg was amputated above the knee in November 1996 due to synovial cell sarcoma. He is also an Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) certified peer visitor and has participated in numerous OPAF “First” clinics.
“We are pleased to award this ongoing scholarship to Danny and know that he will work to continue the goals that Dale Yasukawa set forth for giving back to your community and a commitment to the O&P field,” said OPAF Executive Director Robin Burton. “The OPAF Board of Directors believes in these goals and takes them as part of our mission.”
