MONCTON, NB — Ten-year-old Jacob LeBlanc likes science and cars. But he doesn’t like his prosthetic leg.
“I’m used to just moving one leg, so, it’s tougher to remember to move the second leg,” he said.
Jacob was born with a high-level pelvic amputation called a hemipelvectomy. He’s one of only seven like him in the world. The amputation includes half of the pelvis and leg on that side.
When she was five months pregnant doctors told Jacob’s mother, Cynthia, how her third child would be born, but they couldn’t explain why.
“We were offered abortion which, it wasn’t an option for us, it wasn’t our decision to make. From that moment on the one thing we had been told because he had two siblings already, was to treat him the same as we treated the other two,” she said.
“But sometimes, I would go into his bedroom that we had prepared for him and I would undo the two socks, because he couldn’t use the two socks together.”
Treating him just like everyone else certainly worked. Jacob grew up pushing his body to find ways to be active just like everyone else. But growing up watching other kids have the ability to run around would be tough on anyone, let alone a 10-year-old.
“Tough to accept all the comments that people ask,” Jacob said. “Like, ‘where’s your leg? You look weird with only one leg,’ lots of stuff.”
“The commenting is not quite as difficult as the staring,” Cynthia said.
Jacob’s going through another challenge. The prosthetic leg he has to wear is heavy, it slows him down, and he doesn’t like to wear it.
But the prosthetic actually helps control the curvature of Jacob’s spine, and teaching him to wear one means his arms will be free from crutches.
To convince him to wear it, Jacob and Cynthia are heading to Toronto Thursday, to meet a former American soldier who lost his leg in Iraq when he was hit with an IED.
They’re hoping it will inspire Jacob to wear his prosthetic more so someday he’ll be able to graduate to a bionic leg.
“I’m sure that they’re going to feel some level of connection between the two of them,” said Kirsten Simonsen, a Board Certified Prosthetist in Moncton who arranged the meeting. “And if nothing else, then at least they’ll feel that there’s someone else out there like them.”
War Amps are funding the trip, and they’ve also been footing the bill for Jacob’s prosthetics, which costs about $16,000.
Because he’s growing, Jacob has to get it replaced every year, a financial burden amputees across Canada have to deal with.
In New Brunswick, there’s little to no financial help.
“It’s really depending on the generosity of New Brunswickers,” Cynthia said.
Jacob says he’s looking forward to the trip. He doesn’t see himself as an inspiration, for now, he just wants to ‘monkey around’ like everyone else.
Global New Brunswick will be following Jacob’s progress and will have an update when he returns from Toronto
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