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driven prosthetic technology at least since World War II,” said Martin McDowell, a licensed orthotist-prosthetist at the Washington, D.C. VA Medical Center. The first flexible running foot was developed by a veteran who wanted to resume his sport, he pointed out. “These products come out because of the needs of, typically, the younger veterans. Then veterans of all ages, and people with limb loss of all ages, benefit.” The ability to stop, turn and move for short bouts would not only help athletes like Wise return to sports, but also improve everyday experiences like moving around the house. So researchers continue to break down normal gait patterns and attempt to re-create them with artificial parts, VA prosthetics researcher Highsmith said. Upper limbs pose an even greater challenge. “The human arm is one of the most complex and amazing instruments in the galaxy,” said Todd Kuiken, director of the Center for Bionic Medicine at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. “It has a hundred thousand sensors, incredible control and incredible efficiency.” Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration two years ago, the DARPAfunded DEKA Arm System uses electrodes to pick up some of the body’s own signals and convert them into fine motor actions such as turning a key in a lock. Kuiken’s work on a technique called targeted muscle reinnervation, using surgeries to reposition nerves along muscles, has gone a step further. Now, more than two dozen veterans can control prosthetic arms with the power of their minds. Others have used similar techniques to begin restoring sensation, so amputees can touch, grab and feel the way a human arm would.
EVERYDAY HEROES
The types of extreme feats veterans like Linville, McElvenny and Wise achieve further fuel progress by calling attention to the war’s wounded and motivating others to achieve their dreams, Highsmith said. For many with limb loss, those ambitions have more to do with parenting, working and earning a living than conquering death-defying mountains or day-long endurance races. “Not every veteran wants to get out there and run a marathon — and that’s OK,” he said. Linville agrees and hopes his perseverance persuades every wounded veteran, regardless of desire to climb a literal mountain, to reach life’s highest peak. He’ll continue his ambitious expeditions, including skydiving in 50 states in 50 days and climbing a few more mountains. But he also has his sights set on a happy family, a successful corporate career and financial stability. “Life,” Linville said, “is my next great adventure.”
USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
Stephen Handley
David Birrell
Michael Stokes
A NEW VIEW OF WOUNDED WARRIORS By Cindy Kuzma In one striking image, Mary Dague, a retired Army sergeant and breast cancer survivor who lost both her arms dismantling a bomb in Iraq in 2007, poses as Venus de Milo. She’s nude from the waist up, fabric draped around her midsection. Other pictures show bare male veterans, their sculpted chests nearly as rock-hard as their prosthetic limbs. These compelling photographs are the work of Los Angeles-based photographer Michael Stokes. After a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, Stokes self-published Always Loyal, a coffee-table book of sensual, intimate portraits of wounded veterans. His second, Invictus, comes out Nov. 15 at michaelstokes.net. (Many of the veterans in Invictus are in another book of his, Adonis Blue,
which releases the same day.) “You walk into a museum where the Greeks and Romans carved statues out of heroes. Over time they’ve become broken, and we view them as works of art,” Stokes said. “In some ways, they’re more beautiful if they’re broken, because that’s part of their history. That’s one way I viewed them and one of the themes I’ve used.” Stokes had primarily worked with fitness models and said he felt nervous on his first shoot with a veteran, unsure of how resilient his subject would be in the face of potential criticism. But reaction to the images has been largely positive, and veterans often come pre-equipped with resilience. In fact, Stokes added, it’s a misconception that his work restores his subjects’ self-image: “Maybe the photos can elevate them further,
but they come to me with a pretty high level of confidence.” What he can do is increase their exposure — he has more than 1 million followers on social media — and launch new chapters in their careers. Take veteran Marine Cpl. Chris Van Etten, who lost both legs in an improvised explosive device blast in Afghanistan in 2012. After appearing in Stokes’ photographs, he’s gone on to star in ads for the underwear company Jockey. Stokes has had to do battle with Facebook when users flag his images as objectionable. But, he said, that’s a minority view: “I get messages from people all over the world saying how grateful they are that these images are out there, because it makes them feel less self-conscious about their own amputations, their own disfigurements.”
COURTESY OF MICHAEL STOKES PHOTOGRAPHY