At just 15 years old, David Coen’s life was changed forever.
“I was in a bad accident, and I cut my legs pretty bad. Both of them, I was laid up for a long time and, you know, went through school and everything. And then after school and I worked and did a bunch things, healed up, and my right leg was the worst one because it was froze. My ankle was frozen, so I couldn’t move it. And from my knee down was smaller because the main nerves were cut, but they saved my leg,” said Coen.
Coen knew that at some point during his life he would lose his leg from his injuries. Eight years ago, Dave’s leg was amputated, forcing him to adapt to a new pace of life without compromising the quality of his life ahead.
“Six months later, I went back to work and that was in October, then the first of December, I went back snowboarding. I tried it and I didn’t know if I was going to do it, but I could. In fact, I can snowboard better now than when I had them,” said Coen.
It was going to take a lot more to stop Coen from living his life to the fullest, from snowboarding to biking, and even skydiving, Coen still manages to do it all.
“The only thing I do tell people is when you first get your leg amputated in the first night, you’re in bed when you get up, out your leg out. That’s a joke,” Coen said.
And his sense of humor makes some of the tough moments he does face a little bit easier.
“I enjoy being especially with kids. I’ll be at the beach, and I’ll walk up to the beach, and I have my swim leg and I’ll put that foot in the water, and I’ll say, oh boy, is that water cool!? And then all the kids will look at you like, you know, how can you feel that?” said Coen.
While Coen continues to have an optimistic view on life and his situation, he understands that being an amputee comes with a lot of challenging moments, which has led him to start an amputee support group in Charlevoix.
“What it is, is we get together and then you talk to I’ve had this problem with my leg. And the other person might say, well, I had the same problem. This is how I solved, you know, and that’s the main thing of the support group is to help each other. And a lot of it is not just the amputee, it’s the spouse, whether it’s the man or the woman, because sometimes the spouse has a harder time than the amputee itself,” Coen said.
He wanted to create a space for other amputees to receive the help and support that he was so fortunate to have.
“It gives me some - it just makes me feel more positive and feels like I’m doing something to help other people. You know, I’m not just sitting here doing anything, you know. That’s what a lot of amputees, do. They feel sorry for themselves. They lose hope, you know. But there is hope out there. Your life is not lost. You know, life is still there. And you can live a good and healthy life and a productive life,” said Coen.
Along with the amputee support group. Coen has also been working with the U of M Research Center constructing a bionic foot to improve the quality of life for amputees.
“It’s not the whole leg. It’s just the foot. And what they want to do is make this foot so when you’re walking it automatically, if you’re walking on sand it will adjust to that. Or if you’re walking on a hard surface or if you’re walking up steps, you know, automatically adjust where you don’t have to do it yourself, you don’t have to program it,” Coen said.
It’s still in the early stages of research, but Dave’s efforts and voice is helping to continue moving this idea forward to positively impact all amputees.
“The idea behind this device is a common passive prosthetic foot that are available commercially or called energy storage and returned feet and are basically just a spring that has one fixed setting that somebody walks on all the time. And we think that that’s probably not the best for the amputee experience. We think that we can make prostheses that are robotic in nature that adjust to the needs of an amputee at any given moment in time as they encounter different obstacles in their environment,” said Nicholas Pett, University of Michigan Graduate Researcher within the Neurobionics Lab. “Right now, this is just a research device for helping, obviously, in the future, hopefully not the too distant future to translate these ideas into a commercially viable product. But if there’s a prosthesis that is more comfortable for someone to walk on in different conditions, then you know that will let them be more mobile in the community, do more of the things that they want to do. Stay safer because they’ll be less likely to stumble and fall.”
Through the support group and his efforts working with U of M, Coen has one goal.
“Now, if I can help somebody, that’s what I’m here for, and that’s what our group is for,” Coen said.
One place that is dear to Coen, is Challenge Mountain in Boyne Falls. This is a place where he was able to jump back into the winter sports he loved so much while navigating what it would look like now that he was adapting to a disability.
“Each year, Challenge Mountain connects over 1,800 children, youth, and adults with special needs to life-enhancing recreational opportunities.” Learn more about Challenge Mountain here.
If you’re interested in joining the Amputee Support Group contact David Coen at suecoen@charter.net
If you’re interested in assisting with the research being done at U of M for the bionic foot, contact Nicholas Pett at npett@umich.edu
