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Sylvester 'Sly' Beverly is a diabetic from Colonial Beach who had both legs amputated. Greg Wright
Wright's clients often make specific requests,
Us Orthotics & Prosthetics in Stafford's White Oak area |
By CATHY DYSON
Greg Wright is part craftsman and part cheerleader, a person who gives artificial legs--and real hope--to those who have lost limbs from diseases or accidents.
Wright fits people for prosthetic devices, but he doesn't just take a few measurements and send an order off to the factory.
He manufactures the pieces himself, in the back shop of his office in Stafford County. He custom-makes the socket--the part that fits over the stump--using items such as plaster mix and sheets of thick German plastic. He might use a jigsaw one minute, a blow torch the next.
But Wright's work isn't limited to his messy moments in the shop at Us Orthotics & Prosthetics, across from the Giant in White Oak. He's also a motivator who helps patients rebound from the worst times of their lives.
"The doctor's got it hard--they're the ones who have to cut your leg off," he said. "At least I'm the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm gonna give you a new leg."
THE HUMAN SPIRIT
Wright, 38, doesn't pump his fist with every breath he takes--but it's close. He gets excited when patients use their prosthetic legs so much they wear out the mechanical parts in the knees or ankles.
"More power to 'em," he'll say, pumping his fist and grinning.
Wright lets out a laugh that's almost maniacal at times, but he gets serious when he talks about the human spirit.
"I find that, in a lot of cases, amputation really brings out the best in a person," he said.
Wright knows about devastating accidents. One brought him to the world of prosthetics.
In 1987, soon after graduation from North Stafford High School, Wright was headed home on Eskimo Hill Road when the steering in his car went out.
He was thrown from his Jeep and broke his skull in several places. A blood clot the size of a racquet ball eventually formed in his brain, causing so much pressure that he had a stroke.
"God reached down and smacked me upside the head," Wright said. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me."
It took two years for him to rebuild his strength, to get back to bench-pressing 315 pounds.
After that he worked as an electrician, but got bored. He was looking for other jobs when he saw a classified ad about making artificial limbs.
He applied, even though the job had been filled. He bugged the owner until he was hired, and has been in the field ever since.
The hands-on aspects of the job, as well as the artistic work he does when he adds custom graphics to artificial legs, touch on all his interests.
Wright hasn't forgotten his days on the mend, when he sat in a wheelchair and people looked down at him.
That's why he always kneels to make eye contact.
"Greg can relate more than someone who is an amputee because he's been through it with all his patients," said Richard Kellington, 27, who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident in 2006. "I couldn't imagine anybody doing what they do for a living and enjoying it as much as he does."
'THE BEST THING GOING'
Wright often compares the prostheses he assembles to car parts. Most come with a three-year warranty. Some are Fords, others are Chevys.
"It just depends on what you like," he said.
He calls one leg mechanism the "Toyota pickup" because it's simple, durable and lasts a long time.
What he calls the "Lamborghini foot" has fancy shock absorbers and rotators, but "the more moving parts you have, the more things you have to fail."
The cost of Wright's prostheses varies greatly, but averages about $20,000.
He wants his patients to view their artificial legs as an extension of their bodies, to see the potential of the prosthesis, not the loss of the limb.
Nancy Elliott, 59, calls her prosthetic leg "the best thing going." She suffered diabetes for 25 years, then had gastric bypass surgery and an amputation last year.
She's down from 350 pounds to 160 and walking more than ever before. She was "trapped in her own body," as Wright described it, and he helped free her.
"After you've been in the wheelchair so long, you make up your mind to get out of it," said Elliott, who lives in Stafford. "Greg's been fantastic. He said I had it whipped."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
| Us Orthotics & Prosthetics is the only full-time business of its kind in the Fredericksburg area.
Two-thirds of its patients need orthoses, or braces, to correct damage from broken bones, birth defects or disease, said Jim Tilton, who worked in orthotics for 25 years and opened the Stafford County business in 1995. Tilton also contracts with Mary Washington Hospital and Potomac Hospital to make braces within 24 hours for those who have suffered injuries. The other patients need prostheses, and almost all require artificial legs. Most are older patients who suffer from diabetes or circulatory diseases. Few of them are military amputees, because they're served by the government. |
