The student organization aims to provide lower-limb amputee children with more than just the walking legs covered by insurance.
First-years Abby Mueller and Tolson Jeffrey, the co-founders of the organization, met living next door to each other in Granville Towers this year.
“I am an amputee myself, and (Jeffrey) wants to be a prosthetist, so we bonded over that fact,” Mueller said.
Considering the walking legs provided by insurance companies do not allow amputee children to swim or run, the two came up with the idea of starting a charity to raise money for amputee children in late February or early March, she said.
She said starting in fall 2016, Carolina Best Foot Forward plans on fundraising in order to give out at least one grant to pay for an amputee child’s new limb.
“I’ve been an amputee for four years, and since then I’ve been exposed to how things go on in the insurance industry and how people don’t get limbs they deserve,” Mueller said.
“We are trying to focus on the younger ones — the kids that have gone through trauma. Because even though they make up a smaller portion of the amputee population, it’s more important that a child gets the experience that normal kids get.”
The members wants to reach out to hospitals specifically in the Triangle area, said first-year Sophie Whisnant, the vice president of publicity for Carolina Best Foot Forward.
