Hanger Clinic in Schaumburg hosts rehab boot camp for above-knee double amputees

A nationally renowned integrated care center in Schaumburg for prosthetic and orthopedic patients spent Thursday and Friday dedicated exclusively to people who make up no more than 3% of the amputee population.

Hanger Clinic hosted the Bilateral Above Knee Amputee (BAKA) Bootcamp at the year-old facility on Golf Road.

Over 40 participants new to using prosthetics got professional advice from clinicians. They also connected with others who understand the physical and emotional challenges of reclaiming their lives after losing four joints.

In addition to such human help, the participants were able to use the center’s unique combination of amenities including a gym, rock climbing wall, golf simulator, running track, full kitchen and demo apartment to train for real-world situations.

They even spent Friday morning negotiating the nuanced real-world setting of Woodfield Mall to learn how to get around on their prosthetics and interact with others with the psychological support of doing so among so many peers.

Paralympian monoskier Matthew Brewer of Salt Lake City, Utah, was one of the mentors. He knows well the common trepidation about overcoming such a new physical challenge, even among loved ones who don’t seem to fully understand it.

Now 51, Brewer was already a competitive snowboarder when he lost his legs in 2014 after overdosing on heroin — having become addicted to the opioids he was prescribed during treatment for testicular cancer.

But it wasn’t until he attended a BAKA Bootcamp in 2017 that a swimming exercise inspired him to consider moving beyond the wheelchair he’d been using.

Brewer started training in 2018 and qualified for the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. He more recently competed in the Milano Cortina Winter Games.

Learning to use prosthetics may include a psychological barrier as well, but it truly is physically hard, he said. A BAKA patient relies on 300% more bodily output to accomplish the same things as a person with knees and ankles.

“It’s exhausting, but it’s so much more rewarding,” Brewer said. “Just moving your body in general is the best thing for you.”

Whether or not BAKA patients ultimately opt for taller prosthetics, everyone begins with short devices called stubbies that provide the extra stability of maintaining a lower center of gravity, Hanger Clinic President Michael Oros explained. For most people, getting from sitting to standing is the goal.

Yvonne Llanes, 57, of San Antonio, Texas, lost her legs 21 years ago after being struck by a car. She spent 10 years in a wheelchair before she took up the challenge of using prosthetics — promising her terminally ill father she would try.

“My life was going nowhere,” she said. “I wanted to get up, but I didn’t know how to even start. I knew it was going to be hard. I made it my full-time job.”

A longtime mentor at the boot camp, Llanes said the most common question she’s received over the past 11 years is how long it takes. While the closest thing to an objective answer is 18 to 24 months, she added it’s equally true to say she’s still learning.

While the boot camp participants arrive with a variety of mindsets, Llanes wants them to leave with some common wisdom.

“I hope they go home with a lot of hope and the skills to continue to work on everything they learned here,” she said. “I want the whole world to know about this population. This is one dynamic group of people.”

Brewer agreed there are universal lessons in what a relatively small group of people learns at each boot camp.

“The disability community is one that any member of the public can join at any time,” he said. “To educate yourself about it in advance can only help you.”