Amputee prosthetists help patients take first steps forward

LEE County, Fla. (WINK) — Walking, something most people do without thinking, is not possible for millions of people without the help of a prosthesis.

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At PACE Prosthetics in Lee County, staff and patients share a special bond. They're helping each other heal one step at a time.

"I just don't think I'm supposed to just go, ‘Okay, cool, I'm gonna be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. That's just what it is.’ I can't accept that," said Mario Godshall, a patient at PACE.

The husband, father and nurse underwent multiple amputations after complications from blood clots.

"Your concept of yourself gets completely thrown away, you know, now it's like now you're, you're an amputee, you know, your entire life your norm is completely different now," Godshall said.

But the team at PACE Prosthetics—Peter O'Brien and Julian Roach—understand exactly what he's going through. They're amputees too.

"We are peers first, we are peer counselors, we've been through this, and we are patients as well. So we know what that feels like," said Julian Roach, clinical prosthetic liaison.

Roach was 19 years old when he lost his leg in a motorcycle crash.

“You see your friends just continuing the trajectory of their life, and yours just kind of stops,” he said. “It's really hard to deal with emotionally, especially when you're being let down by a prosthetic team.

They understand not only the physical struggles, but the emotional ones too.

“I think we can give everyone a step ahead with their recovery, physical, mental, because we've gone through it,” said Peter O’Brien, Director of Prosthetics. Doctors amputated O’Brien’s leg in 2006 after years of surgeries and knee replacements from an aggressive type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma.

O’Brien still gets emotional discussing his own journey with prosthetic care.

For Godshall, that compassion and connection make all the difference. Having prosthetists who have walked in his shoes—literally—helps him navigate his new reality.

"They've been through everything that all their patients are going through. They know how to explain it, they know how to talk to you on that level," he said.

Soon Godshall will be walking with confidence and style. His custom carbon fiber socket was designed and built by Roach.

"We know what a game changer it is to have a really good prosthesis," Roach said.

The healing inside the halls doesn't stop with the patients. O'Brien finds that helping others helps him heal too.

“Helping everyone else, you know, helps me too,” O’Brien said.

Each step, together, is stronger than the last.

"It's just one step at a time, like literally, you know, it's one step at a time," Godshall said.