SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – It’s been nearly 10 weeks since Dr. Manoj Monga, Professor & Chair of Urology at UCSD, returned from his most recent venture to Eastern Europe.
“We were able to provide care for men who had gone to protect their country. When I returned, I felt a compelling need to do more,” Monga said.
While Monga was in country, he cared for those who had lost limbs in the war. Monga says he looked into ways to figure how he could help those he cared for in country.
“And at that time found out about the wonderful work that LIMBER LLC was doing. Realized that was need that was unmet in the Ukraine and had the opportunity to meet that need,” Monga said.
Joshua Pelz is one of the cofounders of LIMBER Prosthetics & Orthotics. He said their company worked with and trained Monga to gather the data in order be able to create and then donate prosthetic limbs to the Ukrainian amputees through a fund at UCSD.
“We were able to deliver five limbs to four amputees in just seven days. One the very first day we delivered those limbs, all of the amputees were able to get up and take their very first steps in months since their injuries sustained due to the war,” Pelz said. “From the moment when we first put the limbs on and he took his first steps, it was incredible.”
Seeing their work touch others is what LIMBER set out to do.
“We started with a vision of let’s see if we can create a product and get 1,000 limbs out. And so this is the first bite-sized chunk of that 1,000 goal that we had from our very first day starting this concept,” Pelz said.
“And sometimes just saying yes, let’s go ahead and do it and finding the logistics of how to make it happen; sometimes that’s a really worthwhile effort,” Monga said.
LIMBER is looking to raise donations for their next endeavor is to donate 100 prosthetic limbs to people in the U.S., Mexico, Ethiopia and Ukraine.
