Patient Advocacy

Shawn McKearin is our Patient Advocate / Care Specialist and gets involved with every patient he can as early as he can. He and his family enjoy being able to reach out and help patients and their families/friends by providing any information they can or at least pointing them in the right direction to gather more information. Shawn likes to see as many patients as possible prior to surgery in order to help alleviate as much stress as possible and help to provide as much peace over such a tough decision as possible. He enjoys being able to help and is on call for several doctors and all patients as needed. After being an amputee for 12 years he felt called to start helping others who were facing the same decisions he and his family had faced and left one career field and started over in order to join the Infinity O&P team. He now runs a support group for amputees and tries to reach out to the entire community so that every one has a better understanding of the amputee community. His support group is the Tennessee Valley Amputee Support Group, (TVASGroup.com).

Shawn became an above the knee amputee after a tragic auto accident in March of 1997 severly damaged both legs leaving the right leg crushed beyond repair. After a long healing process he eventually was able to be fit with a prosthesis, however, due to residual limb length as well as other damage, fitting him for a prosthesis was difficult at best. As if the damage wasn't enough, his determination to live without the limits he was being told he would face made building a prosthetic that would help him accomplish his goals very hard as well. All these circumstances combined required a dedicated prosthetist willing to do everything it took to help Shawn reach his goals, the same as he himself was willing to do whatever it took. After several years of struggling it all seemed impossible, another surgery was

needed that would take more of his limb and start the whole process over again. Despite his resiliency and his strong will, it was beginning to look like he would have to accept those limitations he was told about shortly after the accident that caused him to lose his leg.

It was by devine intervention that he happened upon Infinity O&P. While leaving a medical supply company to get crutches for use after the surgery he saw a sign in a window for Infinity Orthotics and Prosthetics. He found out they had just opened the office in Huntsville, AL. and didn't want to have to deal with a new prosthetic place trying to figure out how to help him, he was about to leave when he met Kip Hicks and before the visit was over Kip knew Shawn's goals and desires and Shawn knew how Kip planned to help him reach those goals. That was one of those days you can look back on and know it was a blessed day. The revision was done, (with Kip attending to tell the doctor what he needed in order to get the best fit for Shawn), follow up afterwards included therapy and consults with Kip and then finally the new leg could be started. The plan was to build Shawn a new leg taking advantage of a new Micrprocessor Knee called the Rheo knee. This was the first of it's kind and Kip and Infinity O&P was the first prosthetic company in the area to have it available and Shawn was the second to be fit with the new knee. Since that time Kip and Infinity O&P have continued to provide Shawn with state of the art technology and have done everything neccesary to maintain a comfortable fit allowing him to acomplish and do anything in life he chooses.