Alie Ward

Again, this is from the book Bonk, in case it's like not already in your shopping cart.

No one quite hops in as much as you do.

And you even go in an iron lung in this book, which was a really heartwarming story.

But what I loved about reading this is it runs the gamut from just tissue and cells to mechanics.

Mm-hmm.

Mary writes that she has found herself at the Amputee Coalition National Conference.

And she quotes a passage from the memoir of Judy Berna, who is an elective amputee born with spina bifida.

And having complications with her foot that twisted as it grew, Mary writes that her childhood was dense with surgeries and stubborn infections.

And then in her memoir, Just One Foot, Judy writes, my foot had become a science experiment.

a mess of flesh and bones, but few working nerves.

And Judy told Mary that even though this foot exhausted and limited her, she'd watch people with prosthetic limbs managing things she struggled with.

But the surgeon said, like, no, we want you to keep it.

And I think that you touched on it really well in the book of, well, don't you just want to print another leg?

Or don't you want to do something that looks much more lifelike rather than what's more functional?

And how that's much more for the comfort of the people around them.

Like, can you not look different than me?

Because that freaks me out.

And meanwhile, it's not as useful or as handy at all.

Mary explains that there are rock climbing feet, there are blade-shaped prosthetics for running, basketball, and soccer.

There are surfing feet, swim fins, pivots for kayaking, handlebar adapters for mountain bikes.