Man’s idea born in pain promises respite
Donald C. suffered more than emotional pain when he lost his right leg.
The compression stocking that held his prosthesis on his thigh was uncomfortable at best and excruciating at worst.
Immediately after he started wearing the stocking he thought about making a more comfortable alternative. More than five years later, he is on the verge of marketing the brainchild of his pain: the Prosthetics Sock.
“I came up with the idea before I came out of rehab,” said the 53-year-old man.
“When I made it up and tried it, it worked great.”
Donald won’t say what materials he used to make the sock or how it works until the patent is secure. For amputees who feel his pain, he promises relief.
Compression stockings are designed to keep blood circulating in what remains of an amputated limb. The stockings are tight by necessity. But they can feel like rows of rubber bands digging into the skin, Donald said.
They also amplify “phantom pains,” which feel as if they are coming from below where Donald’s leg was removed.
“I can still feel my toes cramping up,” Donald said. “I can still feel an itch on that leg that’s not even there. Your mind doesn’t know your leg is gone.”
Donald said vascular disease and high cholesterol are to blame for the loss of his leg in November 1999.
He spent two years in Vietnam and knew battle-wounded soldiers who could use his product. He also hopes the Prosthetics Sock will give relief to the victims of the war in Iraq.
Donald has always been a tinkerer, and inventing a new product flows from his years of mechanical experience. He was born into a family of mechanics. For years he made his living repairing small engines.
“My dad had me rebuilding four-barrel carburetors at the age of 12,” Donald said.
His physical therapists say Donald’s experiment could benefit many thousands of people. A 9-year-old study by the National Limb Loss Information Center estimates 1.2 million Americans have lost limbs.
“Every therapist I’ve seen has been infatuated with it and said I should market it,” Donald said.
The inspiration to produce the Prosthetics Sock on a mass scale came around 2 a.m. one day while Donald was watching a television infomercial. He called Invent-Tech, a Coral Gables, Fla., company that promised to help him patent his product and find a manufacturer.
Invent-Tech sent him a starter brochure, which he failed to fill out until the company called him two weeks later. It’s been a year since he contacted Invent-Tech, and the product should be on the market soon, according to Invent-Tech representative Apollo Hernandez. Hernandez could not offer a specific date for the product’s release.
Donald is anxious for that date to come. Nothing can compensate for the loss of a limb, but he said he believes his product will make a difficult condition a bit more bearable.
“It’s really hard, but you have to learn to cope with it,” Donald said.