Hi!

My name is Ben Blecha.  I am an amputee turned prosthetist.  I grew up in Benkelman, Nebraska.  When I was in high school I was diagnosed with bone cancer.  Omaha was where I was sent for treatments.  At that time it was a 7 hour drive.  My mom and I made 33 trips that first year.  I had my knee replaced to get rid of the tumor.  That replacement broke out of the bone and I had it replaced again.  In the first 5 years I had 17 surgeries.  The second knee replacement became infected.  My only option was amputation, which I had on March 31^st, 1997.  It’s funny how we remember the date.

At the time, I was in college studying to be an engineer.  Because my amputation was so complicated, my prosthesis would never fit.  Sometimes my residual limb would bleed and I had to use crutches because I could not walk on it.  I was very frustrated.  I just wanted to return to “normal” life again.  I brought many ideas to my prosthetist to fix the problems, but at times I felt like he would not listen.  So I decided to fix the problems myself…I decided to go to school to be a prosthetist.

I wanted to be the best, so I found the best school and followed up with residencies around the country to learn the best techniques.  What I found was that I did not have to live with the pain.  I could return to as “normal” of a life as possible with a good fitting prosthesis!!!

I finally decided to move home and start my own prosthetic business.  I knew that if I had to travel so far to see a prosthetist, there had to be others.  What I found when I returned to Benkelman was that there were a few amputees in every small town.  Many of them had different levels of amputations and many questions that only another amputee could answer.  Yet they were so disconnected from the other amputees that their questions could not be answered…

…so I thought about “support groups.”  I sorely dislike that phrase.  To me, so many “support groups” turn into complaining sessions.  I know that we sometimes have to vent, and that is only normal.  What I wanted was a network of amputees that could answer each others questions, vent here and there, but most importantly return to enjoying LIFE.  It turns out life is to short not to enjoy!!  I hope you join and I hope you enjoy. 

Together we will be TriAmphant!!

Ben   

If you have more questions about TriAmphant or if I can help you in any way (perhaps you may need help de-seeding a watermelon?) please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call me at 866 832 1269