Disabled Bosnians Hit Slopes to Test New Limbs

Rijad Polic, a 17-year-old Bosnian refugee, dangled his right knee off the edge of a hospital bed as a prosthetist took measurements for a new artificial leg.

Polic’s old legs--heavy, pink plastic prostheses standing against the wall--were snuggled inside new bluejeans and hiking boots. His new legs will be outfitted in ski gear.

“I feel good about the whole process. I think I can lead a normal life,” said the slim, shy teenager, one of nine disabled Bosnians in Colorado this month to receive new prosthetic limbs and participate in a ski event for the disabled. He spoke through an interpreter.

In 1993, Polic ran into a field to help his mother, who had seriously injured a leg after stepping on a land mine. Polic lost his right leg just below the knee and his left leg at mid-thigh after he stepped on another mine.

He and the other Bosnians are joining about 500 disabled Americans and their families in the ski event at Breckenridge, a Rocky Mountains resort about 70 miles southwest of Denver. Disabled Sports USA, a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, organized the event, which ends Tuesday.

“We wanted to help a group of individuals whose lives were destroyed by war, to help them begin to rebuild their lives,” said Kirk Bauer, executive director of Disabled Sports USA.

“The turnaround for me was getting involved in sports,” said Bauer, who lost his own left leg in 1969 during the Vietnam War. “They can feel good about themselves in a short time.”

Five of the Bosnians in Colorado are paraplegics; the rest are amputees. They were disabled by land mines, snipers’ bullets, or shrapnel from shells or rocket-propelled grenades.

About 25,000 Bosnians were permanently disabled by injuries suffered during the four-year war, according to the International Rescue Committee.

The war forced Polic’s family to flee the Bosnian village of Zdrinci for the town of Bugojno.

When relief workers met Polic earlier this year in Bugojno, the teenage refugee was doing handstands on his wheelchair, said occupational therapist Laura Hamilton, a relief worker in Bosnia for the rescue committee.

“He’s a very active kid,” Hamilton said. “When we heard about the trip, he was an automatic choice.”

Ron Englander, the prosthetist who fitted Polic, said the teenager’s new legs are made of lightweight aluminum and feature anatomically correct sockets that prevent skin irritations.

“The prosthesis will become more a part of him, as if it were part of his own leg,” Englander said. That should help when Polic hits the slopes.

NovaCare Inc., a physical rehabilitation company based in King of Prussia, Pa., donated the artificial limbs, Englander said.

Englander’s own father emigrated from Polic’s hometown in 1927, settling with his family in New York after fleeing Europe during World War I.

“I feel a special personal connection with them,” Englander said of the Bosnians.