Limbs for Life offers hope to boy born without leg

In a time of joy for Colleen and Michael Karow, life suddenly turned frightening.

“It was such a shock, kind of surreal,” Colleen Karow recalled. “It was just unbelievable.”

The couple, who had come to California from South Africa, had just received news from their doctor about her ultrasound procedure. The child she was carrying, the couple’s first, would be born without a right leg, possibly the result of a blood clot.

“It was scary to think, ‘What would his life be without a leg?’” Colleen Karow remembered. “We had no idea about the world of prosthetics.”

When the Karows investigated what would be involved in keeping their child equipped with an above-the-knee artificial limb, they had another shock: “It’s outrageously expensive,” Colleen Karow said.

Each limb could cost $10,000 or more. And with a growing, active child, replacements would be needed every year or so, not to mention adjustments, repairs and replacement of parts, like the synthetic foot the boy would wear down by just crawling around.

The couple had insurance that could pay most, but not all, of prosthetics expenses for their son, Connor. However, persuading the insurer to cover repeated prosthetic purchases — even the less-expensive “pylon” legs he wore at first — would become a constant battle, Colleen Karow said.

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