Jennifer Fredenburgh said she’s able to do everything people with two hands can do – with the support of The War Amps.
The 31-year-old Brantford resident was born missing her right arm below the elbow and grew up with The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) program, which provides families with financial assistance for expensive artificial limbs and adaptive devices.
The organization helped Fredenburgh’s family cover the cost of limbs, which child amputees outgrow as regularly as clothing, for everyday use and special devices for swimming, weightlifting, and other exercises.
Fredenburgh’s myoelectric prosthesis, which uses the electrical tension generated every time a muscle contracts, is “super helpful” in her everyday life, allowing her to open and close the hand so she can drive, carry shopping bags and open doors.
“Words can’t really describe how much The War Amps have helped me,” she said.
Equally important as the limbs and devices to Fredenburgh, who works as a fire inspector with the City of Hamilton, were the seminars provided by the organization where, as a child, she met other young amputees.
“It had a huge positive impact on me. You might not meet up with another amputee in everyday life. They talked about things like how to deal with people staring at you, and you got to look at what kinds of devices other kids were using.
“It was so important to making me an outgoing person.”
The War Amps launched its 2022 key tag mailing this week to Brantford and the surrounding area with the theme, You Make Our Programs Possible.
The key tag service started in 1946 so that returning war amputee veterans could not only work for competitive wages, but provide a service to Canadians that would generate funds for the association’s programs, including CHAMP, said Martine Lepine, manager of communications for The War Amps .
The key tag service continues to employ amputees and people with disabilities and has returned more than 1.5 million sets of lost keys to their owners.
Each key tag has a confidentially coded number. When keys are lost, the finder can call the toll-free number on the back of the tag, or place them in any mailbox in Canada, and The War Amps will return them to the owner by courier, free of charge.
The organization receives no government grants and its programs are made possible through public support of the key tag and address label service.
For more information or to order key tags, go to waramps.ca or call 1-800-250-3030.