“A patient is guaranteed to be more comfortable and functional in a prosthesis made at the Indiana Institute for Prosthetics than a prosthesis they have received at any other facility in the US or abroad. A patient will have no financial obligations to the Indiana Institute for Prosthetics if he/she feels that our initial prototype system is not vastly superior in comfort and function to their previous prosthesis.”

The day I met Matt Habecker, a little over a year and a half ago… I didn’t know it at the time, but it was one of those moments in one’s life that, only on reflection, made a major impact on my life. In the forty plus years of being a left leg AK amputee, I had dealt with several prosthetists. The thought of dealing with a new prosthetist…again, was not without some trepidation. There’s always a “breaking in” period that has to be dealt with between the caregiver and the patient. I had already made up my mind not to expect too much, and the extremely youthful appearance of Matt Habecker didn’t do much toward building my confidence.

But then, Matt kind of took over. With the tone of voice of someone who was used to being taken seriously, he started asking me a lot of questions to better understand what I was looking for. We talked about my age (71)…. he asked a lot of questions about what my concerns were, how active I was. I told him I was an avid golfer and would be really happy if he could get me an extra 20 yards on my drives. He said that he would keep that in mind. The fact that I had a stump length of only about 10 inches with a vertical scar running down the back that always caused serious concern in the past didn’t seem to faze Matt at all.

On top of all that, my good leg was only operating at about 60 % of what it was before the accident. The knee only bent 70 to 80 degrees and my right foot pointed to about two o’clock instead of a more natural 1 o’clock exacerbated an already difficult problem. Matt was not concerned. He said that he would never let me walk out of his clinic until I was totally satisfied. He expressed confidence that he not only could give me what I was looking for, but more. He was looking forward to the challenge.

When Matt brought out my prosthesis the very first time….just by looking at it….I told Matt that it was never going to work. It didn’t look anything like what I had ever seen before and I just couldn’t believe this was going to work. I just knew I was going to fall down when I stood up, and walking to the end of the room was going to be very awkward.

Totally unfazed by my initial reaction, Matt said, “We’ll never know until you put it on, stand for a minute or two and we’ll see how it goes.” The experience from that point on was almost a spiritual feeling. I stood. I walked. And never felt so confident and comfortable in the 40 years as an amputee. I played golf that weekend and didn’t experience any pain or discomfort the whole day. It was as if I had been walking around for 40 years with a small pebble in my shoe and all of a sudden the pebble was removed.

That is when I started calling Matt, the “Leonardo Da Vinci” of modern prosthetists.

I have told Matt that I would be available by phone or in person to meet and talk with any patient who asked for a reference. He is really the best at his trade that I have ever come across.

~Jerry Q Retired USMC