amputation

Each morning when she wakes up, Juanita Mengel removes the silicone liner of her prosthetic leg out from under a heated blanket so that the metal parts of the artificial limb don't feel as cold on her skin when she straps the pieces together. The 67-year-old Amanda, Ohio, resident then does the same for her 5-year-old dilute tortoiseshell cat, Lola-Pearl, who is missing her left hind leg.

Dr. Mehdi Shishehbor started the Limb Salvage Advisory Council in 2019. A recent study he published shows it’s working to save limbs and address what some call an “amputation epidemic.”