John Horne's Mile
By Reid Champagne
"What's next?" could be the catch phrase for Newark health care professional John Horne.
Now a prosthetist and orthotist, as well as founder and owner of Independence Prosthetics - Orthotics, Horne faced a major challenge in his life at the tender age of 15, when he was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare bone and soft tissue cancer that frequently strikes male teenagers.
Though eventually declared cancer free, the progress of the disease resulted in the amputation of part of one leg below the knee.
What was ahead for Horne was a series of goals designed to prove to himself that missing part of a leg was not going to limit him in any way. He began riding a bicycle and participated in the family bike-a-thon, Tour de Cure.
He also learned to ski and even won a trophy for one ski race he had entered.
After high school, Horne attended the University of Delaware and Wilmington College, earning a degree in science. From there, he attended Northwestern University for advanced work in orthotics. He also interned at A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children, where he learned how to design orthotics.
"Orthotics is the science of building braces and supports for existing limbs, while prosthetics is concerned with construction of artificial limbs to replace missing ones," Horne explains.
Horne's offices contain a fully equipped lab for him to construct braces and limbs. The collection of plaster leg molds offers a practical look into the very functional, yet artistic world of fashioning orthotic and prosthetic devices that perform their function and attempt to fit as if these artificial appendages were the real thing.
For prosthetic devices, Horne measures, molds and builds what is known as the socket - the part of the prosthetic device that meets the body. For this and for orthotic supports, Horne will take precise measurements of the area of the body to be fitted and then make a plaster mold.
Horn works with patient Charles Ulbinsky, of Elsmere, DE. |
The mold is then used to form and complete the composite materials (carbon and fiberglass) that will form the finished socket. The other components that will complete the limb or brace are purchased outside and assembled in the lab.
"I help my patients regain their functionality," says Horne, "but I also work with the mental and emotional side of living with an artificial limb."
Having one himself is the kind of first-hand experience that reassures his patients that they are certainly not alone, nor is their particular case the worst. "Nobody really knows someone like myself until they have to," Horne says. "They're not aware of my world until they need me.
"I help them realize there is still a lot of potential for their lives, and help set and reach realistic goals for themselves."
With all new patients, Horne begins with a health biography and then performs a functional assessment of needs. He then measures and forms a cast, and determines what additional components are needed. This can typically all be accomplished in about a week.
"After fitting, we then proceed to physical therapy and gait training, further adjusting and modifying the device along the way," Horne explains.
In addition to getting a new business up and running, Horne has begun chasing a new challenge in his life: running. Talked into running Newark' Main Street Mile this October 20 by Fusion Fitness founder and owner Nic DeCaire, Horne learned he had a lot of work ahead of him in learning how to run on his artificial limb.
"I can do okay on a treadmill," he says, "but running on pavement was more than I anticipated." So Horne went down into his own lab and redesigned the socket to his own artificial leg in order to increase the flexibility he now realizes he needs to run on the harder, less forgiving surface of a city street.
"My goal is to try and get under 10 minutes for the run," says Horne.
And after accomplishing that, "What's next?" will no doubt be immediately in Horne's thought again.
31 Meadowood Drive Newark, Delaware 19711
302 - 369 - 9476 fax 302 - 369 - 9060
Office Hours 8:30am - 5:00pm Monday thru Friday
For your convenience, please call to schedule an appointment
Copyright . Independence Prosthetics - Orthotics, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
