Dear Friends,

I’d like to share with you an exciting project. I was accepted to the LeTourneau Engineering Global Solutions (LEGS) Team last fall. I am a junior at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. I am pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree, specializing in Kinesiology. I hope to complete my graduate work at UT Southwestern under the Prosthetics and Orthotics program and pursue a career as a Prosthetist. I feel like this is an opportunity to fulfill God’s call upon my life.

What is LEGS? ( www.LETU.edu/LEGS or http://www.legsresearch.org )
The mission of the LEGS team is to design a low-cost prosthetic leg designed for above-knee amputees in developing countries. LEGS works through providers who are already fitting amputees in the developing countries of Kenya, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone. These clinics have only had access to second-hand prostheses that have been donated or to prosthetic legs that lock at the knee, causing an abnormal gait. The LEGS prosthesis has been designed with an articulating knee (4-bar polycentric made of Delrin®) that allows the knee to bend. This normalizes gait and helps amputees function better in everyday life. More than just designing a lower-limb prosthesis, however, the LeTourneau University team envisions a better solution to other problems faced by amputees, such as the ability to work. Using local materials and common tools such as a drill press, band saw, and a sanding unit, this artificial leg is a sustainable technology that enables local clinicians to manufacture the leg after the LEGS team leaves since the LEGS team leaves, behind schematics.

My Role on the LEGS team
In addition to science, math and engineering research, each student must also do marketing, fundraising, and cultural research before going to the countries. Serving on this team requires dedication and hard work. Each student must give both a monetary commitment and a time commitment of 10 to 20 hours a week, over a two-year commitment. Before we travel to our host sites in Kenya or Bangladesh, each of us needs to raise $3,500.
To improve our knee design and rehabilitation techniques, continual research and testing is being done in the labs at LeTourneau University. This year, my role on the LEGS Science team has been administering several outcomes tests on local volunteer lower-limb amputees to confirm that the LEGS knee functions as well as we believe it does. I am also working with a local prosthetist as he fits and aligns the volunteer amputees. I am very proud to be a part of this team and look forward to the time spent in research and application.

My Inspiration
Four years ago during an engineering preview event while visiting LeTourneau University as a high school student, I was introduced to this team. I became inspired with the concept of sharing my faith by sharing a skill. In developing and refining the skill of rehabilitation and prosthetic design, I feel God is introducing me to a field of study in service for Him. In living with a lifelong disability, I feel as though He has equipped me with sensitivity to people who are dealing with handicaps.
Since 2004, generous donations such as yours have enabled engineering and science students to visit countries around the world to fit patients with the LEGS limb. LeTourneau is a unique Christian University with a heart for missions. The university motto, “Faith brings us together. Ingenuity sets us apart." is illustrated through LEGS.