St. Charles Teen Gets Life-Changing Prosthetic Legs With Help from Boston Marathon Bombing Survivor

A 19-year-old man has gotten a new lease on life after a foundation started by a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing helped make it possible for him to get new prosthetic legs.

Vidal Lopez, 19, of St. Charles, lost both of his legs during a car accident in Mexico this past summer, CBS Chicago reports. The Heather Abbott Foundation donated $70,000 to Lopez for his new prosthetic legs. Heather Abbott started her foundation after injuring her left leg while standing near the finish line when the marathon bombing occurred in 2013.

Lopez, an above-the-knee double amputee, got to test out his new customized prosthetics this past week and his mother and girlfriend were on hand at the University of Illinois Chicago Hospital to witness the progress he's made so far, the Chicago Tribune reports. Chicago prosthetics company Scheck & Siress designed the limbs for Lopez, which give him much more range of motion than his old prosthetics.

"When Vidal came to us, he had mechanical knees that allowed him to walk basically at one speed and that's it," Rotter told the Chicago Tribune. "He had to put a lot more effort into walking and what these (new) knees have done for him is they have given him the ability to walk at any pace and help him to walk in the process."

The prosthetics also allowed Lopez to drive for the first time as an amputee. Lopez says he is now looking forward to attending college next year to study engineering -- a goal he has put off, according to the article.

One of the major perks to his new legs are his microprocessor knees, which, among other things, include a “stumble recovery feature,” Rotter told Fox 32 News. Before, when he caught his toe on something, he would fall, but with the news legs, the microprocesser understands what’s happening and allows Lopez to catch himself, Rotter said.

Lopez, who doesn’t have insurance, applied to the Heather Abbott Foundation after he said he was becoming depressed and ran out of options for getting the legs he needed to live a more-normal life, according to media reports. So far, the foundation has provided about 10 other amputees with customized prosthetics.

Abbott was 38 years old when she joined friends near the Boston Marathon finish line to cheer on the competitors. When the second bomb went off, Abbott was blown into the entrance of a nearby restaurant.
Abbott, who was forced to have her leg amputated below her left knee following the bombing, started her foundation, which raises money to provide amputees with customized prosthetic devices.

“While most insurance companies will cover a portion of the cost for a basic prosthetic device, they will not help with specialty prostheses,” according to the Heather Abbott Foundation website. “These devices range in price from $15,000 to more than $100,000, making them far too expensive for anyone hoping to regain more of the life they once lived.”

Photo credit: Heather Abbott Foundation Facebook page Photo caption: (From left to right) Heather Abbott, Vidal Lopez and Dave Rotter