Bermuda Man Requests Help With Prosthetic
A Bermuda man in need of a new prosthetic leg has turned to social media in order to help raise the necessary funds, with more than half of the required money donated in only six days.
Ryan C. Gibbons, an athlete who participates in a variety of events, uses a prosthetic leg and foot for both his competitions and his general daily mobility, but damage to his current device and a dwindling medical loan have made it impossible for him to purchase the needed prosthetic without help.
Current donations, totaling $5,445 of the $10,500 needed, have come from 48 people, with individual donations ranging in size from $10 to $800.
Mr. Gibbons’ GoFundMe page says, “I need and I’m asking for the crowd’s support to raise funds in an effort to buy a new foot and pay the loan on my leg off; the foot component of my prosthesis has started to delaminate [splinter] quite badly from the vigorous activity and challenges and needs to be replaced.”
Mr. Gibbons’ GoFundMe page:
“The feet are sold separately, but I have $8,300 left on the medical loan I took out to get the entire device, as insurance only covered a small amount; out of $19,000, they covered about $4,000.
“The entire loan was $15,000 and through diligent payment I’ve gotten it down to $8,300, but with this new cost of the broken foot replacement it seems as if there will be no end in sight for payment for my mobility.
“In total I’m asking for the funds to replace my Veri-Flex with EVo foot to a model with a higher activity rating – possibly the Freedom Renegade or something comparable. My prosthetist is Robert Emmerson out of A Step Ahead Prosthetics, Massachusetts chapter.
“Any further support toward the loan will be greatly appreciated. All funds raised will strictly support these aims.”
You can visit Mr. Gibbons GoFundMe page here.
It is very sad that something SO necessary is not covered by insurance. This man has to actually take up a collection for something his insurance should cover!!
I totally concur with BermudaGirl regarding how these insurance companies do their very best to not cover these procedures. Insurance companies are nothing more than legal extortionists.
They roll out their “menu” of what they DON’T cover and it always appears to outweigh what they do cover.