October 2019 | Vol. 5 Iss. 10
FREE
MATT LOWELL PROVIDES
UN-LIMB-ITED HOPE TO TEEN AMPUTEES THROUGH CAMP By Deserae Dorton | d.dorton@mycityjournals.com
M
att Lowell is often seen walking around his Sugar House neighborhood with his two labs. Though a friendly guy, many of his neighbors have no idea that this resident of over 15 years spends a great deal of his time and energy on a youth camp that has changed the lives of hundreds of kids. Originally from Connecticut, Lowell first came to Utah in 1992 for the physical therapy program at the University of Utah. He interned at Shriners Hospitals for Children-Salt Lake City and fell in love with the place. “I loved the vibe. It is a place like no other,” he said. Soon after graduation, Lowell was hired as a physical therapist at the Salt Lake City Shriners Hospital.
The beginnings of Un-Limb-ited
While in school, Lowell volunteered with the University of Utah’s burn camp and saw big changes for the kids who attended. He was struck how the experience helped considerably with their confidence and in working through trauma. As Lowell started his work at Shriners Hospitals for Children-Salt Lake City, a pediatric orthopaedic hospital, he recognized a parallel need in the amputee population. “A lot of the amputees I was working with as a physical therapist were struggling to get out in the community being active in addition to dealing with common teenage issues,” Lowell said. So, in 2005 he started a ski and snowboard camp for teen amputees treated at the Salt Lake City Shriners Hospital. Three years later, he added a summer camp, a weeklong river trip down the Green River. He also opened it up to teen am-
Teen amputees from all over country come together for a week of adaptive skiing and snowboarding every winter at Park City made for the Salt Lake City Shriners Hospital camp, Un-Limb-ited. (Deserae Dorton/City Journals)
putees from all over the U.S. The camp, run through the nonprofit hospital, is no cost to participants allowing kids from a variety of backgrounds to participate. The name of the camp (suggested by a camper) became Un-Limb-ited. Lowell felt the name fit the mission of the
camp perfectly. “They are unlimited; they can do whatever they want. They just have to figure out how,” Lowell said. After long days on the slopes or rafting down the Green River, the evenings include staff-run therapeutic support groups. Many kids have expressed that for them, the support Continued page 8
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