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"I'm Blessed Just to be Here on the Earth": Gerry's Bilateral Upper Limb Loss Journey

Amber Henson
by Amber Henson
Sep 10, 2024

For many people, the days, weeks and months following a traumatic amputation look the same. There is a lot of pain, a lot of adjusting and a lot of wondering what the future will look like. Our patient Gerry Kinney of Southern Illinois began his prosthetic journey more than nine years ago on July 16, 2015, when he was in his early 50s and working as a lineman. He made contact with a 7,200-volt power line.

Gerry lost both his arms after his accident, but he’s grateful to be alive. “I'm blessed just to be here on the Earth. That day was a bad day, but I mean, I'm still here. I'm still getting to do a lot of stuff and enjoy a lot of stuff.” Gerry knows that it’s the support that he’s received from his wife, family, friends and his medical team that have allowed him to thrive in the years after his amputations.

It was Gerry’s wife, Denice, who was thinking about the future after his accident. “Gerry spent five weeks in the burn unit and then two weeks in a rehab facility. I knew during his stay in the hospital how severe his injuries were when the doctors would come and tell me, ‘Our main concern is just for that man to feed himself.’” While this was scary for Denice, she knew that once Gerry recovered, his goals would extend far beyond feeding himself. “I’m sitting there, looking at him with no hands and knowing how busy that man is and how can he fix and do everything he wants to do, in our home, on our farm? What is our life going to be like?”

Gerry at Hospital with Denice

Denice understood that prostheses were going to be crucial to Gerry and that because of the severity of his injury, he was going to need a specialist. She started looking around on the internet and soon found the Arm Dynamics website where she came across a video on Jason Koger, a bilateral amputee since 2008. Denice reached out to Jason, who always makes himself available to talk to amputees and their spouses. “I called him and said, ‘Would you mind if I ask you a few questions?’ and he says, ‘Oh heavens no, but hang on a second, I'm driving and I need to pull over,’ and I'm telling you, I just started crying like, oh my gosh, he's driving! There was so much hope I felt just from hearing that. And Jason’s the one who told me, ‘You can go anywhere for prosthetic care, but going to Arm Dynamics will save you and Gerry a lot of time and frustration.’”

Shortly after she called our center in Kansas City, KS, our prosthetist, Julian Wells, was meeting Gerry and Denice in a hospital room. Julian remembered that first visit: “I’ve found during my time as a prosthetist, it’s the spouses who have the most familiarity with who the patient was before the accident, and then, because they’re not in the world of just trying to survive, they're the most afraid, because they have no idea where the road from here leads.” Denice told Julian about Gerry and the person he is. Julian: “During those early days of Gerry’s care, we developed a plan and having that conversation about what Gerry’s life looked like. What did he want to do? What about his hopes and dreams?”

After six months of recovery and insurance procedures, Gerry was approved to be fit with prostheses just before Christmas 2015. Julian, who is pictured below, recalled, “It was awesome to be able to make that phone call right before Christmas, to give them both that message of hope.” Gerry: “Toward the beginning of January, Denice and I came to the center. I thought we were rushing it, because I was still pretty tender on my right side, and I’d only recently gotten my wound pump taken out — but I’m so glad we went then.”

Gerry with Julian

Gerry remembered he had three things that he could not wait to do: “One was pick up and eat a sandwich without anyone helping me, no one cutting it up. Two was pick up a beverage and drink it without a straw. And last was eat a ribeye steak on my own, with a fork and knife and cut it up myself and eat the pieces when I wanted to. We got to the Arm Dynamics center on a Monday and on Friday of that week, I did all three of those things.”

Washing his own face was not on his list of initial goals, but it was clearly important to Gerry:

Gerry was initially fit prostheses that had i-Limb terminal devices, which are multi-articulating myoelectric hands, among other devices. He currently has TASKA hands, V2Ps, body-powered hooks and ETDs.

Gerry went home with his devices and started looking for things to do. He wanted to figure out how to use his prostheses and go back to being the fixer his wife had known before his accident. Julian spoke about Gerry’s gumption: “I think that one of the reasons why Gerry is so successful is that early on, when he failed a bunch, it didn’t cause him to give up. He worked harder. He thought, ‘Well, I’m going to try again. I’m going to try a different way.’” Gerry spent a lot of time in those first few months figuring it out. “At first,” Julian remembered, “Gerry’s function was basic and tentative — very thoughtful. But then, within three to six months after I fit him, his function became more automatic and routine, and then those little light bulbs would come on, and he’d jump on his tractor again or drive his truck or his car. He was able to do those things that gave him satisfaction before he had his accident.”

About a year into Gerry’s prosthetic journey, occupational therapist Lauren Trent joined the Kansas City Arm Dynamics center as a clinical therapy specialist guiding each patient’s prosthetic rehabilitation. Lauren remembers “When Gerry and Denice came in, my impression of them was very similar to what most peoples' first impression of Gerry is: He’s super resilient, kind and upbeat. His outlook on what happened to him is amazing. When I met him, he was just starting to get into more speaking engagements. He was just beginning to tell his story, and he’s so open and honest and super motivated, which makes him motivate others.”

During those visits, Gerry and Denice would talk separately to both Julian and Lauren. “We learned a lot about them, and we were there to be a sounding board for their struggles, just try to listen to the things they were going through,” Lauren said. One of the issues in those early days was that Denice was such a good caregiver to Gerry that once he received his prostheses, it took her a bit to pull back on her duties. Denice: “The hardest part for me was to stop doing things for him. I wanted to do everything for him. In my mind, it was easier for me to do it, and it would be faster. I was not being patient. I had to let him learn how to do it on his own. One time he told me, ‘You’re not always going to be here. I want to learn these things for myself, I don’t want to be dependent on you all the time.’ That helped me understand that I needed to back off a little bit, but it’s one of the hardest things in the world to do. I don’t know how many times I would leave the room and go cry because it’s so difficult watching your spouse struggle.”

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“Denice has been a trooper,” Gerry told us. “I tell everybody, I can’t imagine what she’s been through, mentally and emotionally. She’s still with me after all of this, and for anyone to stick with someone through something like this, that is a testament to how much they love you.”

But all that struggle was paying off. Lauren remembers: “After meeting him, we all went out to eat and he was showing me his control of his prostheses — like being able to pick up a chip and dip it in salsa. It was amazing to see someone who was able to function so well with bilateral prostheses.”

While Gerry was making strides with his devices, it wasn’t always easy. “The first three years were very difficult,” Denice remembered. “You know, you go through all the emotions of grieving, just as you would a death. I know I did, just as he went through his own grieving process. And those first three years, it was really tough. After that, he was getting really comfortable with his prostheses. The arms had healed. The physical wounds were healing, the emotional wounds were healing. He had started to accept ‘This is my life. This is what I have to learn.’” Denice thought a moment. “Another thing that changed was that he got saved and baptized. And when the Lord came in his life, He changed that man. He was kinder and more patient — not just to me or others, he was kinder and more patient with himself.”

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Three years may sound daunting, but there was joy in there, like every time Gerry would accomplish something with his devices. Julian: “Sometime in the infancy of Gerry wearing his prostheses, Denice called me to tell me that he’d just laid an 1,800 brick patio.”

“Getting to a place of normalcy is not a race, it’s a marathon,” said Denice. “Both of you have to pace yourselves. It’s not going to happen overnight.”

In the six years since achieving that level of normalcy, Gerry has kept himself and our Arm Dynamics team busy. Lauren: “He always has things he wants to try and work on, to alter or make stronger. I think one of the things that Julian both enjoys and stresses about when Gerry visits is the challenges he brings. He has great ideas and wants to know if we can figure out how to make it work for him.”

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“Gerry is like family,” said Julian. “I’ll get a phone call, and the news will be that Gerry’s wired a building on his farm — what was it, 30 feet by 40. And I’m so proud of him, when I get those calls.”

The building that Gerry wired is what he calls his “Lineman’s Cave,” a space for Gerry to display his lineman memorabilia and items from his career. “Most of the work that’s been done in the cave has been done after my limb loss. I look at that room as my path to using my prostheses. Working on the room allowed me to figure out new and different ways that got me on the road after my accident, putting these prostheses I have to use.” In the images below, you can see the barn that is the Lineman's Cave and some of the interior:

Linemen Barn
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Gerry’s life is currently full of farm chores and projects, the occasional vacation and going to help out with lineman instruction during the spring and fall in Springfield, IL. He and Denice travel to the Kansas City center, a six-hour drive for them, around two or three times a year, for socket and device repairs and/or upgrades. “I was going to retire next year anyway,” Gerry mused, “so I’m starting to get into that mindset. I’ll take breaks after lunch to give myself a rest, give my arms a rest — especially in the summer when that sweat and moisture builds up inside them, I have to take off my prostheses to give the skin a break.”

Gerry teaching class

What advice do Lauren, Julian, Denice and Gerry have for anyone else just starting out on a journey similar to Gerry’s? Both Lauren and Julian spoke to the power of peer support and meeting others who are farther along the amputation journey. Lauren: “There are many different support avenues to take, but one of the most crucial is to speak with someone with an amputation. Gerry has gone and talked to new amputees for us and his experiences are invaluable. But also, building up the community around you, accepting help, and seeing a counselor. Healing from the mental aspects of an amputation is just as important as healing from the physical ones.”

Julian noted, “I’ve seen our patients do so much better when they’ve connected with a peer, because there is so much unknown. Even with my experience, I can’t explain to someone what it’s going to be like. People connect who have been through similar trauma. I think making those connections is a game changer.”

Gerry and Chris Buck
Gerry speaking with fellow Arm Dynamics patient Chris.

Denice considered the idea of advice before stating, “Everybody’s journey is so different. It’s so hard on a marriage. You had better be in a good, strong solid one, you better love them, because you don’t know what life is going to bring you. If each of you aren’t kind to yourselves, then the person you love is going to get the brunt of that anger that is really self-focused. There will be bad days. At the beginning a lot of them. And then some good days, and eventually the good outnumber the bad.”

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Gerry acknowledged those bad days: “I can tell you, there were days where I was not a very pleasant person. I was terrible. I felt worthless. There have been times that I’ve wished the good Lord had taken me on that day. But I look back and I say, well, I’m glad I’m still here. It’s all part of the process. I’m glad to be here and look at everything I’ve accomplished in the years since. You can either sit in a rocking chair and feel sorry for yourself or you can get out of it and start using these prosthetics and enjoy life. I've known a few people who were not very keen on using their prosthetics, because somebody would do everything for them and I've told them, you do not know what you are missing out on. You’re missing out on failure, yeah, but man, you’re missing out on life.”

Both Gerry and Denice have been so giving of their time to our Arm Dynamics team and our patients and their families, which we appreciate so much. They have been so open with their story and were featured together in one of our patient success videos:

Gerry: "Denice and I are so grateful to Julian, Lauren and everyone at Arm Dynamics because we consider them a part of our family.  We would not be as far along and as successful as we are without having them in our lives."

If you or someone you love is starting to investigate prosthetic care, please contact us. If you would like to leave a comment for us or for us to pass on to Gerry or Denice, please let us know. Thank you to those whose memories and experiences contributed to this article.

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