Kicking Off Limb Loss Awareness Month
April is Limb Loss Awareness Month and Friends of Bethany is thrilled that organizations and people across the world are celebrating this important topic. For the last 10 years, this special month has been raising the visibility of amputation, amputees, and the resources and programs serving them.
In the United States, there are an estimated 2.1 million people currently living with limb differences. Globally, there are approximately 1 million amputations per year. There is a great need for supportive services and programs that assist with trauma, rehabilitation, and life-giving community building that is essential for the health and well-being of individuals living with limb differences.
With a heart for specifically supporting youth, Friends of Bethany’s mission is to provide amputees and people born with a limb difference the hope, resources, and inspiration to overcome. Through our programs, retreats, and care packages, we are building a community that supports one another and reaches out to more and more people each year.
Expanding Our Reach
With a growing awareness of Friends of Bethany’s outreach capabilities, our programs and goals to serve more people are expanding. 2020 has already been a groundbreaking year for us with the debut of The Forge Retreat for men with limb differences. Holding this event on Kauai in January opened a door to serving men with limb differences that Friends of Bethany has long wanted to pursue. Many men face limb loss from work or military-related injuries, cancer, and more but there has also been a lack of resources of healing, restoration, and offering hope to these men. Our goal was to meet those vital needs and inspire.
Mike Coots is a Friends of Bethany’s Founding Board Member and amputee, and he was also a leader at this year’s inaugural event. “The Forge has been a vision of Friends of Bethany’s for a few years now,” he shared. “The vision was to bring amputees from around the country to our home in Hawaii and to equip them with tools to strengthen the mind, body, and spirit. Taking what the world could view as broken, and through mentorship, skill-building and prayer come out stronger than steel and ready for any challenge.”
Friends of Bethany’s Board Chairman Adam Dirks was also a leader at The Forge. “There are no programs out there that are centered around a holistic approach to healing and dealing with the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of men that are living with a limb difference. The Forge was created to provide an amazing experience that is fully focused on healing, growth, and the creation of a supportive community.” As Bethany’s husband, Adam is fully aware of how powerful these healing experiences can be. “Friends of Bethany started doing retreats for young women with limb difference about seven years ago, and we saw an incredible impact in the lives of the women who attended. We knew that we needed to provide a similar experience for young men that have limb differences as well.”
Beautifully Flawed Retreat
The Beautifully Flawed Retreat was our first retreat that provided an opportunity for young women with limb difference to come together to learn, heal, and be inspired. It is through these retreats that we have seen our attendees embrace their limb difference, find beauty in their stories, create a support systems for each other, and so much more.
“Starting Beautifully Flawed was kind of a dream come true for me,” shares Bethany Hamilton, pro-surfer and amputee. “It’s a time to kind of tackle all these different areas of our life from nutrition, being physical, our mindset, and our Christian faith, and the way God views us.”
Applications are now being accepted for Beautifully Flawed 2020 which will be held in southern California this October for young women between the ages of 14-25. Applications and tons of great information and images of our 2019 Beautifully Flawed retreat can be found here.
Stay tuned for more stories and updates from our April 2020 Limb Loss Awareness Month celebration!
Check out other inspiring stories
Make Incredible Things Happen
Help further our mission and programs that support young people living with limb difference or those who’ve experienced traumatic limb loss by making a tax-deductible donation.
Mahalo to Our Sponsors
Thank you to the following corporate sponsors who have already made direct contributions towards our upcoming retreat! We couldn’t do this without the support of:
- Certified Brands Group
- Cobian
- Dukes
- Fjallraven Kanken
- Mae Cargo Jewelry
- Pain Free Kauai
- Primal Kitchen
- Rank Up Academy
- RX Smart Gear
- San Diego Picnic
- YETI
- Feast on This
- Hakus and Love
- Health Ade
- Hoa Kai
- LinkSoul
- Love Handle
- Now Foods
- Point One Vision
- Rustico
- Blender Bombs
- Crossway
- Gnarly Nutrition
- Greenhouse Foods
- Greyston Bakery
- Kokua Suncare
- Mo’s Dough
- Nooty
- PalmDream
- Paper Sunday
- Surfwater
- Palmdream
- Ponyback
