Name: Garry Moore
Type of Amputation: Left BK
You would never know Garry Moore is an amputee if you were watching him skate the half-pipe, but he is. Garry is an energetic 34-year-old competitive skateboarder and amputee advocate with an abundance of energy. Skateboarding has always been a love of Garry's, but in 1997, a timber pile fell from a crane at his workplace claiming part of his left foot, and changing the way he skated forever.
  Almost two years after the accident, Garry made the decision to become a trans-tibial amputee. Following his amputation, Garry tried several different feet for high-activity level amputees, but none of them were durable enough for his high-paced lifestyle. The laminate materials broke down, causing cracking and eventual breakage, and Garry said, "there was too much stiffness and not enough flexibility." Although he was still able to skateboard, Garry wasn't able to skate competitively because his feet just couldn't withstand the demands of the sport. Garry knew it was time for a change, and that's when he learned about the Venture foot from College Park.
Through his prosthesist, Garry learned about the benefits of Venture's Stride Control feature and adjustable bumpers. "The Venture is flexible enough to encounter various terrains, and it has strength, agility, and good balance," proclaims Garry. By allowing control of the level of resistance to motion without changing bumpers, Garry says, "it more closely emulates a real foot."
 Now that he's able to competitively skateboard again, Garry is having the time of his life. Not only is he doing what he loves most, skateboarding, he's helping others to achieve their goals through Amped Riders, a non-profit organization he founded in January 2004 to "encourage amputees to be more active in aggressive sports such as skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding and to establish a network of resources that will allow them to achieve their goals."
"The College Park Venture foot has been the most reliable and functional piece of prosthetic equipment that I have tried, feet or otherwise," says Garry. Although he admits, "I will still check out new feet that hit the market," he adds, "but I'll be running around on my Venture when I do it."
To learn more about Garry and the Amped Riders, click onto www.ampedriders.org.
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