Kylee Haddad underwent a below-knee amputation in 2003. Frustrated by the difficulty in obtaining prosthetic coverage from her health insurance company, Haddad started a nonprofit, the Arms & Legs Foundation Inc., to help amputees pay for prostheses that are only partially covered by their insurance.

1) What are you most proud of accomplishing since you started the foundation?
I’ve been able to help [people] locate assistance. There was a gentleman in Michigan who was shot in a store, and they had to amputate above where the injury was, and he didn’t have any prosthetic coverage insurance. I told [the amputee] most states have what they call a victim’s fund, [for people who are] injured from a [crime]. He was able to hook up with somebody there.

The Clear Channel radio up here in Frederick, Md. interviewed me, the Frederick News-Post listened to me and I was in the New York Times. People are starting to recognize that there is a problem [with] people not being able to afford prostheses. It’s slow, but it’s finally getting heard. That’s what I’m most proud of, that people are listening.

2) What are your goals for the foundation’s future?
My goals are raising money and awareness for people who have insurance, but don’t have proper prosthetic coverage. My goal is to provide everybody with a prosthesis. But just to help one person a month to get what they need would be great.

Frederick County helped me design an outline of a business plan. I have an accounting degree, but I’ve never run a business before. I learned a lot, and it’s going to be a long road, but I just started out on it in 2007, and by February I was able to put together a fundraiser. I’ve gotten numerous phone calls [and other] positive feedback from it.

3) How do you think amputees and prosthetists can make their voices heard in the fight for prosthetic parity?
I think prosthetists have to go to the government and write letters and tell them every single story about the [patients] whom they had to tell, “Sorry, you can’t walk out of here, you still have to use your wheelchair or crutches.”

I think every single amputee needs to tell his or her story about losing a leg and then being told, “You can have it, but you have to come up with $45,000 because your insurance won’t cover it.”

It’s amazing what phone calls will do when you’re trying to get a big corporation to work with you, but you have to be nice, because nobody wants to work with somebody who’s nasty. The only reason that I’m as [mobile] as I am is that I flipped up every single rock I could possibly find to get what I wanted.

4) What do you think will convince insurance companies to provide coverage?  
I think that they look at each claim as a dollar value. An insurance company looks at a $15,000 claim and says, “We’re not going to start covering this stuff.” I think the only way the insurance companies are going to do it is if [it’s mandated]. If they were going to do it [on their own], they would have never excluded it in the first place.

America [is] one of the most thriving countries in the world, but we can’t provide an arm or a leg to our general population? There should be no reason that insurance companies tell me how to walk around.

5) How do you and your prosthetist keep your prostheses working so that you can keep up with your five children and your athletic activities?
Mike Corcoran, CPO,  is my prosthetist, at Medical Center Orthotics and Prosthetics in Silver Spring, and I must drive him crazy, because I change a lot. I go there about four times a month to get adjusted. I have different legs for different activities. I have a Proprio and a VSP, which I use every single day to run around and exercise.

I have a seven-inch tibia and a lot of redundant tissue on the bottom. I have a seal-in socket—I like those the best [because] they hold on. However, I either shrink out of them and have to get a new socket, or I get too big for them and end up having to use a sleeve. So I actually have two sockets for each leg, because one fits perfectly when I walk out the door, and then 30 days later I’m too big for it.

The best compliment I get is, “You’re an amputee?” When I wear heels and I can walk and nobody knows, it’s a gratifying feeling.

Interview by Heather Benjamin, assistant editor of the O&P Almanac.