After loss, a shared strength

Gerald Scandiffio (left) and Arthur Graham, who provide mobility devices for customers of Next Step Orthotics and Prosthetics in Newton, examine a cutaway model of a state-of-theart C-Leg model, which is controlled by a microprocessor. (Globe Staff Photo / George Rizer)

Gerald Scandiffio knows that losing a limb is devastating. One of his legs was amputated 17 years ago, and he can tell you what it feels like to lie in a hospital bed staring at a fearful and uncertain future.

Now, Scandiffio and Arthur Graham, as board-certified prosthetics specialists for Next Step in Newton, create limbs so people can resume living active lives.

In 1990, Scandiffio was working for a construction company and was sent to a job site to drop off chainsaws. As he was leaving, someone asked him to jump onto one of the trucks and attach a crane hook to a load of support timbers.

"They never told me that the bands around the lumber had already been cut," said Scandiffio. "As I climbed on top of the truck, my weight shifted the load, and the lumber started falling toward me."

When Scandiffio pushed himself off the truck, he landed on his back and one of the falling beams crushed his leg. Doctors told him they could save the leg, but that he would most likely need a cane for the rest of his life.

A week later, Scandiffio was sitting in his hospital bed watching television, and saw a bilateral amputee, with prosthetic devices on both legs, run up a basketball court and do a lay-up.

"I looked at my foot and knew that I'd have to have a partial amputation, as my toes had begun to turn black," he said.

"I told the doctors that I wanted to get on with my life and that they should remove my leg." He was 20 years old.

Scandiffio insisted on having photos of his leg taken before the surgery in case he should ever have regrets. He wanted to be able to look back and see how bad things really were.

It was a long road to recovery. After the initial surgery, he developed a staph infection, which required an additional operation. He spent two months at Mass. General Hospital.

One day, when he was at his prosthetist's office being fitted for a new limb, Scandiffio mentioned that he was searching for a job where he could help people. Scandiffio recalled that the prosthetist looked at him and said, "You're going to need legs for the rest of your life - why don't you learn how to make them?"

Scandiffio worked with the prosthetist as an unpaid apprentice for a year, then was hired as a full-time staff member. He worked in the office for nearly a decade, then moved to another practice for a few years before connecting with Graham at Next Step Orthotics and Prosthetics Inc.

"People can relate to Jerry because he's been through the process," said Graham. "He's also inspired a lot of people who questioned if they would be able to get through the difficult times."

Graham became interested in the field of prosthetics while attending a career fair for students at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland, where he grew up. His first job was at Queen Mary's Hospital in London, which had a big rehabilitation center. One of his first patients there had lost all four of his limbs after contracting bacterial meningitis.

"As a student, we'd never been exposed to that level of limb loss," said Graham. "It was a great case to work on - and he did very well - but I'll always remember thinking that that could be any of us. Fortunately, he was strong and went off to college."

Graham's next job was with R.S.L. Steeper, a British prosthetic-device manufacturer and supplier with clients worldwide, including in the then-USSR and Saudi Arabia.

The company sent Graham to Novokuznetsk, Russia, about six times a year over a four-year period to make prosthetics for people who worked in the diamond mines in Mirny, Siberia. On his first visit, Graham said, he was trailed by the KGB.

"It was fascinating," said Graham. "We got off the plane and there were these two guys who were always in the background." At first, the interpreter insisted that they weren't being followed. But after seeing the men in the airport, the streets, and again in the restaurant, he admitted that they were members of the secret police.

Graham returned to Russia again when it had transitioned to a free-market economy. "It went from being very organized and slow to very disorganized and corrupt," he said. "To get our equipment onto the plane, we were told we had to pay extra; to transport our things in the taxicab, they said we'd need a special bus, which we had never needed before."

Graham said he was struck by how warm, kind, and giving the people in Siberia were.

Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company in Saudi Arabia, was another client, and Graham saw patients there between 1994 and 1996.

"People would show up late for their appointments - not five minutes late, but a year and five minutes late," he said.

Graham came to Massachusetts in 1996 to work for NovaCare (now the Hanger Orthopedic Group), where he stayed for four years. Then he went to New England Orthotic and Prosthetic Systems in Westwood. He made the move to Next Step in Newton in 2003, and hired Scandiffio.

Scandiffio said that at one point he thought about going into another line of work "because I didn't know if reliving my accident every day was emotionally healthy. I almost wanted to forget about it and move on with my life."

But a few years ago he was asked to visit a firefighter from Melrose whose leg had been crushed. Scandiffio said that after leaving the hospital that evening, knowing that he gave someone else the inspiration he needed to go on, his calling was undeniable.

"With me, physical labor had been my entire life," said Scandiffio. "When people see me walk into their hospital room with no problem, and I show them my limb, it gives them hope."

For more on Next Step Orthotics and Prosthetics, visit nextstepoandp.com.

To suggest a subject for a People column, e-mail Lebovits@globe.com.

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