On the morning of October 30, 2013, 21-year-old, Alec, was driving to work through Utah’s Parley’s Canyon when his cousin lost control on an icy bridge and crashed. Alec pulled over to help, but as he moved one of the detached tires out of the roadway, another vehicle lost control and struck him at highway speed.
Alec suffered life-threatening injuries, including a torn aorta, ruptured spleen, multiple broken bones, and devastating damage to both legs. After dozens of surgeries and several days in a medically induced coma, doctors attempted to save his leg with muscle grafts. When those efforts failed and infection spread, amputation became the only option.
13 years later, Alec now combines his personal experience as an amputee with a career in prosthetics, working as a consultant, product tester, and patient advocate while helping develop innovative technology and mentoring others beginning their recovery journey.
A Recovery Built on Determination
Once the amputation was behind him, Alec threw himself into rehabilitation.
Doctors estimated he would remain hospitalized until around New Year’s. Instead, through multiple daily physical and occupational therapy sessions, he left the rehabilitation unit the week of Thanksgiving—months ahead of schedule.
Finding Purpose Through Prosthetics
A challenge that surprised Alec more than any physical obstacle was the lack of provided resources for new amputees.
“I went to my first physical therapy appointment thinking they’d have one waiting for me,” he remembers. “My therapist asked if I’d met with a prosthetist, and I didn’t even know what a prosthetist was.”
That gap in care delayed his recovery and eventually became one of his life’s missions. Today, Alec works with hospitals and healthcare providers throughout Utah, helping newly amputated patients connect with prosthetic resources much earlier in their recovery. He also helped establish a long-running peer support group, The Sky’s the LIMB-it, at the University of Utah and regularly meets with new amputees to offer guidance during one of the most difficult periods of their lives.
Professionally, Alec immersed himself in nearly every aspect of prosthetic care. Over the years he has tested prosthetic knees, worked with engineers developing new technology, served as a prosthetic assistant and patient advocate, and collaborated with researchers bringing next-generation devices to market.
“I’ve always been searching for why I’m still here,” Alec says. “I’m supposed to be doing something important.”
Why Limber Felt Different
After years of working throughout the prosthetics industry, Alec eventually found Limber.
What stood out wasn’t simply the technology. It was the mission.
“I know most people can’t afford a $2,500 prosthetic,” Alec says. “If people knew there was another option available, they’d want it. That’s what really drew me to Limber.”
Having tested countless prosthetic components throughout his career, Alec appreciated something else about the Limber team.
“If I call Walker [Chief Operating Officer of Limber Prosthetics] and say, ‘Hey, we should try this,’ nobody says no. They say, ‘Let’s figure out how to make it happen.’ That’s super refreshing.”
For Alec, the willingness to innovate in pursuit of better patient outcomes reflected the same values that had guided his own advocacy work for years.
A Different Kind of Freedom
Although Alec is an above-knee amputee and continues helping develop Limber products designed for people like him, he recently had the opportunity to use Limber’s LF1 foot during a family vacation. The experience surprised him.
For more than a decade, trips to the beach had meant worrying about damaging expensive prosthetic equipment. Sand could work its way into components, increase wear, and turn what should have been relaxing family time into a constant source of stress. Eventually, Alec stopped joining his family on the beach altogether. This trip was different.
“I didn’t think about my prosthesis once,” he says. “It was the first time in 12 years that I wasn’t worried about damaging my leg.”
“It was such a mental break,” Alec says. “I didn’t even realize how much I needed it.”
Advice for Others Beginning the Journey
Having spent more than a decade navigating life as an amputee, and helping others do the same, Alec offers one piece of advice above all else.
“Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Compare yourself to yesterday.”
“Everybody’s journey is different. Keep getting a little better every day, and don’t measure your progress against someone else’s.”
For Alec, that’s exactly what recovery has been: not becoming the person he was before, but continuing to become someone even stronger. Today, Limber is proud to be part of Alec’s journey—and even prouder to have Alec as part of our mission to improve the lives of amputees around the world.