Amanda Heller

Amanda Heller is just like every other preteen girl. She likes art and go-karts and is getting ready to try out for the softball team at her school. The only difference, she was born without a foot or ankle on her left leg.

Heller got an Össur® LP Vari-Flex® foot from Bulow BioTech Prosthetics (BBP). Matt Bulow, founder, says, “We used that foot because it is low profile enough to fit under her long residual limb length but still provides the energy return that she needs for her activity level.”

“I can run. That’s what I really like,” said Amanda. She was not able to run in her previous foot. It also caused pain and other problems. The Össur LP Vari-Flex foot has changed all that. It has even allowed her to ride a bicycle for the first time in two years.

She decided to get a skin-colored sleeve for the prosthesis so it would look nice when she graduated from elementary school. “My friends think it’s really cool,” she said. “It feels much better and I love it way better than my old one.”

“Amanda can use this foot independently, and that’s important for her at this age. It really has given her independence,” said Amanda’s mother, Tammy Heller. She explained that Amanda needed help to remove some of her previous feet, but now that she is getting older and spending time away from home with friends, it is important that she can do things like that herself.

Heller believes the fit is perfect, in part, because of Matt Bulow’s perspective. “He really understands because he has his own prosthesis,” she explained. Bulow lost his own leg to cancer when he was a teenager. “Like, he knew what I was talking about when I told him I was ‘bottoming out’ … that’s when you feel like your limb is touching the prosthesis. It might not really be touching, but it feels that way and it hurts.”  Heller said the new foot does not cause this problem.

Tammy Heller agrees. “She’s at the age where she needs to make the decision about where to go (for prostheses),” said Mrs. Heller. She added that Amanda really wanted to try Bulow when she read Matt’s story online. “She liked the idea that Matt had a prosthesis,” she explained. “We don’t know what she is going through–he does.” Mrs. Heller believes the staff at Bulow truly listens to Amanda and that helps build trust and solve problems.

Bulow says he thinks back to his own teenage years when he is talking to Heller so he can better address issues and concerns she may have. With all his patients, he tries to really listen so he can get their fit just right for their lifestyle.

“They are the best prosthesis people I have ever known,” said Heller of the team at BBP, and she should know. “This is, like, my one-hundredth foot, well, not really, but it feels that way. I had to get a lot of different ones when I was growing up,” she explained.

Heller played baseball when she was very young and is looking forward to softball. “My parents will help me get ready.  We will practice throwing and catching, and I will tell them to get harder and harder on me.”

She is happy to just be herself. “I am definitely a girly-girl, but I like to do some boy stuff, too.”