Mike Bolland (00:03):
Hello, welcome to the We’re Not Stump podcast. I’m your host, Mike Bolland, and I’m a congenital amputee of the right hand. In this show, I will interview other amputees and allow them to tell you their incredible life stories. I’ll also feature family members of amputees and others who support the amputee community, all in an effort to discuss the challenges and triumphs of those living with limb laws. So, stick around and listen to inspirational stories and find out why we say we’re not stumped.

Mike Bolland (00:33):
Well, welcome to the We’re Not Stumped podcast. I’m Mike Bolland. Today we have Angie. Angie’s always been active. She rides horses. She loves to go shooting, really anything outdoors. All of that could have changed just a short time ago, but with an attitude that her mom says it is what it is. And gritty determination, she has come back to do all those things, plus even more. So, Angie, thank you for being on the We’re Not Stump podcast.

Angie Coe (00:57):
Thank you, Mike. I really appreciate it. I’m super happy to be here.

Mike Bolland (01:01):
Well, we’re happy to have you. You know, we always start to wear, not some podcast with a in your own words segment. So I, I’d like to hear your story, Angie.

Angie Coe (01:08):
Sure. Um, I can start from, you know, when I was little. I grew up in a very adrenaline activity, kind of man on dirt bikes. So it’s kind of inevitable that I was going to be on the slightly crazy side in that sense. Um, so I had my first dirt bike when I was five years old. Um, I’m a scuba diver, a sky diver, a rock climber. Um, I go off-roading pretty much anything that has that butterfly feeling, adrenaline I’m into. Um, so fast forward from there. Uh, this kind of leads into how I lost my hand. I was at an event in February of 2020, uh, called King of Hammers in the desert of Southern California. And that’s an event where everyone goes in their awesome, lifted trucks and rigs and goes climbing up these insane rocks. And it’s a, it’s awesome. It’s a whole event, a week long.

Angie Coe (02:08):
Wow. So it was the last day and we were coming home from watching all of these, uh, vehicles do these insane things. And we were in our Polaris Razor. It’s like a, a dune buggy, a rock crawler. Uh, and as we were driving back to our, our rv, we were having a little bit of fun, uh, which we’ve done a million times. Sure. And, um, during that fun, the buggy tipped, and as it tipped, my hand, uh, went out the window. Uh, luckily I didn’t grab the roll cage because if I had grabbed the roll cage, I would’ve lost, I would’ve be, I would’ve been amputated further up. Oh. Um, but as it tipped, you know, I thought that in my brain, I thought my wrist broke. So I said, my wrist, I feel like my wrist broke. Uh, so I took my helmet off and I undid my five point harness, and I crawled out of the buggy.

Angie Coe (03:04):
Didn’t know what my hand looked like at that point. So when I got out of the vehicle, I looked at my hand and I was like, I lost my hand. All of my fingers are completely mangled. It was super traumatic scene. Um, and I told my husband, I said, I lost my, I lost my fingers. Uh, and when he saw my hand, he panicked. Um, I was a vet tech for 20 years, so I’ve always been in like the, um, stressful kind of emergency situation scene, so I know how to stay cool, calm and collected. So I was very calm. Um, it was two o’clock in the morning and we were in the middle of nowhere. Uh, luckily there is probably about 80,000 people at this event, even though they’re kind of scattered about. Um, there’s a lot of people. So he went running, looking for somebody.

Angie Coe (03:56):
And my luck kicked in at that point because the first person that he found was an army medic, um, who had seen amputations before, seen this kind of trauma before. And even more my luck, I carry a really intense first aid bag with me everywhere I go. Uh, not the ones that you buy, you know, with the, the little handle and you know, some band-aids and Neosporin in it, like an intense first aid bag. Um, and in that first aid bag, I had a, um, a tourniquet. So he knew what to do. We had all the supplies, we had all the knowledge there. Uh, and he knew what to do. So he, he put the tourniquet on my arm. And when shock and adrenaline kick in your, your body temperature goes down. Um, and it was the desert at two o’clock in the morning. It was freezing already.

Angie Coe (04:47):
Uh, but all, and this whole thing was caught on camera because we had a GoPro. Oh, wow. . So, so, you know, on the GoPro I can hear myself saying, you know, the, there’s two things that I just kept repeating. I lost my hand, I lost my hand, and I’m freezing, I’m freezing. So people kept putting blankets on me. By this time, there’s a bunch of people around. Um, so everyone was putting blankets on me, you know. Um, somebody had a CB radio and called an ambulance. So the ambulance didn’t arrive for like half an hour. We were really in the middle of nowhere. Um, so when the ambulance got there, they put me in the back. Uh, you put an IV in me, tried to keep me warm. Um, and then from there we had to wait for the helicopter. So another like 20, 25 minutes, um, until the helicopter got there.

Angie Coe (05:34):
So this is a long time to wait. Yeah. Uh, it’s not like, it was like five minutes and I was in the hospital. We, and then the helicopter ride was another 20 minutes. So, but, you know, they put me in a stretcher. Uh, they had the neck brace on me and the back, uh, brace on me, even though I didn’t feel like anything was wrong. Uh, when they put me in the helicopter, I just, just wanted to sit up. Cause I wanted to see, uh, I wanted to see out the helicopter. Cause the, he helicopter’s super cool . I just, I just wanted to look out. So, you know, they were like, no, that’s not going to happen. So we get to the hospital. I went to Loma Linda and it was like a movie. They took me out of the helicopter and all these people are running towards me.

Angie Coe (06:23):
Everyone’s screaming dosages and times and all this stuff. And they wheel me into the, the hospital. And you’re going down this corridor, all these lights are on its total movie. Hmm. Um, and then when I get into the actual hospital, uh, they, I’ve got people all around me and they’re still cutting all my clothes off, you know, from both legs, arms, and everything. And I remember telling them, um, I have really long hair. And I, and I kept telling them, please don’t cut my hair , please don’t cut my hair. Uh, so they, they were laughing and they kind of worked around that. And the next thing you know, I was in surgery, uh, and I woke up and I was in the hospital bed and I was an amputee.

Mike Bolland (07:07):
You know, you had said something earlier too, your most, your hand, if not all your hand was either mangled or missing, but you took off your five point hardness. By yourself. Any memory of that or how you did it or,

Angie Coe (07:20):
You know, adrenaline, , you know. Okay. Yeah. It, it’s so insane what that does to your body. And I had already thought that my, my wrist was broken. So my guess is I used my left hand mm-hmm. , um, to take off my five point harness and I took off my helmet. But who knows? I mean, maybe I did use my hand. That, that part, I don’t remember. I don’t have a recollection of that, but I did it. You know?

Mike Bolland (07:46):
So now you’re in the hospital and, you know, they, you went through the emergency part, but now the recovery part’s happening. Can you explain a little bit more about that?

Angie Coe (07:55):
Yeah. Um, I was in the hospital for about a week. Um, you know, I just kind of, I didn’t really know what happened. Like, I knew kind of from being in the medical field and knowing what my hand looked like, I kind of had an idea of what I was going to wake up to. But, um, you know, I just woke up and had to ask, you know, what, what happened? Uh, so they told me that I had, you know, not, I had three of my fingers and the majority of my hand, uh, my palm amputated. Um, but I can see it, right? So you, you, you can’t see it. I was completely bandaged up. Um, they had me heavily drugged, so I wasn’t in any kind of pain, uh, emotionally. I just kind of, at that point, you just kind of go through all the, um, you know, emotions in your head.

Angie Coe (08:44):
Okay, well what, what happens now? What, uh, what can I do? What can’t I do? Uh, my first thought was, I can’t shoot anymore. This is my, this is my right dominant hand. I’m an am, I’m, I’m an avid shooter. So, um, that was a really big deal to me that, that ki that took me back emotionally. Um, and then not that long because I was like, okay, well I still have my left hand. Um, I still have my, my trigger finger. Uh, even though I had no motion in it, I, I couldn’t move it at all. I was, I was determined at that point to make sure that that wasn’t the end of what I love to do. Um, so it just kind of, it was one of those, it is what it is, situations and got to accept it and have to adapt and I can’t change it.

Mike Bolland (09:36):
And you are right-handed too. And that injury happened to your right hand. So that had to, had to been either a transition, it probably continues to be a transition for you, I would imagine.

Angie Coe (09:45):
Yes. I, uh, I am now ambidextrous good. You have to learn, uh, you know, I do a lot of things with my left hand. I still can do things with my right hand. Um, but the problem with that is it puts a lot of strain on these two fingers more so the index finger. Because even though I can do stuff, like when I push down to do anything, it pushes this finger really far over and it causes a lot of pain. Um, not necessarily in that moment, sometimes in that moment. Um, but, you know, it’s, I have to think, I now have to think into the future. So what is this going to do to my hand a week from now, a year from now, 10 years from now, it’s going to be, it’s, it could potentially be big issues. So, um, that’s why the prosthetic is, is really important for me to wear, uh, as much as I can to do things because it’s going to save these fingers.

Mike Bolland (10:42):
And you, you said earlier too, it, it, it was months and months, if I’m not mistaken, almost close to a year, to even be able to use those two fingers like you currently do now. Yeah. Um, was it more because of like a skin graft issue or just, just getting the strength back?

Angie Coe (10:59):
Well, I think getting the strength back had a lot to do with this. The, a lot to do with it. I did in the surgery, they put pins, um, through the bones of my thumb through the web and then into the bones of my other finger. And, and the reason for that, which is what I was told, is because if they didn’t have those pins, these fingers would’ve just crumbled into each other. Oh, right. So, okay. So they wanted to keep those, those kind, that web in a nice kind of l shape. Um, so I, I, that kind of, that helped the abil my ability to kind of have that motion still. And then I, I did physical therapy three times a week for nearly eight months. Wow. Um, and I, I worked my butt off, uh, put myself through a lot of pain, uh, to make sure that I had this range of motion because I was not giving up. There’s, there was, there’s no giving up to me. You know, so, um, the skin graft was, was difficult. The skin graft, um, causes a lot of tightness. Hmm. Uh, it just feels like, and the, I think phantom pains come in a lot, uh, in this area. Um, squeezing like compression, tight, tight compression. Um, and I, I, I just think that it’s the skin graft, but uh, who knows what it’s from.

Mike Bolland (12:15):
Well, it’s interesting because as a congenital, I don’t have, I, I never had a hand, so I don’t have any phantom pains, but I do hear, I’ve heard that obviously. And that’s, that’s gotta be an interesting thing to go through.

Angie Coe (12:24):
Yeah. The phantom pains are rough. Um, you know, it’s all in your brain. So I, I went to, um, OT World in Germany. It’s a prosthetic convention. It’s the largest one in the world. Wow. And somebody came up to me and they asked me a question that never dawned on me before, and it makes total sense. They asked me, when you wear your prosthetic, do you get phantom pains or is it only when you take it off? And I, I had to like think about that for a second. And I only get phantom pains when I do not have the prosthetic on. And I think it’s because it tricks my brain to think that I have those fingers. Ah, there uhhuh . So, you know, when in the morning times when I don’t have it on the phantom pain is, is pretty rough and nighttime, especially after using my hand all day. Um, the phantom pains are, are pretty intense. Um, there’s a couple phantom pains that, that aren’t painful. They’re just annoying. Um, like the, the number one annoying is the itchiness , like the, their fingers that aren’t there. They itch so bad and you keep ’em. Wow. So you’re just kind of squishing and squishing. And sometimes it goes away pretty quickly. Sometimes it lasts for a while.

Mike Bolland (13:38):
Yeah. That’s interesting. You know, I, I don’t have the fantom pains or even what you were describing, but I will get an itch right here. And I, I cannot do anything about it. I mean, it’s just one of those things. Yeah. , you know, I I I I watch you on uh, uh, your Instagram, which is bionic Angie. Right. And I love all the stuff you do on there. You know, you you’re really representing and, and helping quite a lot of people. And I had talked to other amputees about, at the beginning of their journey, they’re looking for resources online to see what’s out there. And really there isn’t a lot. So it’s great that you’re, and it is bionic Angie, is that correct?

Angie Coe (14:12):
That is correct. Yeah. That is correct. And you’re, you’re right about the resources. There is, there’s not many resources. So I do get a lot of people reaching out to me and, and asking questions, which I encourage. Yeah. You know, this is not something that people have to go through alone. This is something that you can kind of learn from other people’s experiences or, you know, you take what I know now and use it in your now recent trauma situation. Yeah. So I love it when people reach out to me. I will go to the end of the earth to help people in any way that I can. And it’s not just Americans. I get people, people from India and Brazil and all over the world asking me questions and, and, and whether it’s emotional support, you know, cause everybody has a lot of amputees go through a ton trauma amputees, um, especially Yeah. Go through a ton of emotional turmoil because it’s, it’s, you know, you’re, you grieve almost, you lose a part of yourself. So you need that support.

Mike Bolland (15:16):
Let me ask you that question. Uh, again, being a congenital, I don’t know this, but when you, when you lose something like you did, is it 50 50 physical, mental? Is it 60% mental? I, I, that’s just an interesting question. In your own journey, what, what would you say?

Angie Coe (15:34):
Yeah, it’s, it’s different for everybody. It is, right? Yes. So putting a percentage on it would be really, really hard. Okay. Um, for me, I didn’t really have a lot of emotional, um, trouble with it. Mm-hmm. , I, I, and I had a lot of physical, I had a lot of physical issues, um, that even today I have physical issues. You have to push through those. I mean, you Oh, amputees are tough. , , amputees are tough humans. Yeah. The things they go through and daily life dealing with things where people don’t see their pain but they have pain and they’re still doing it. Amputees are tough. Um, but for me, emotional, it’s, I just don’t have that personality to kind of dwell or say, why me? I, that’s not me. Mm-hmm. . But I don’t, I don’t, you know, rag on anybody for having that. Everybody has different ways of coping and doing things. Um, I’m very much a get up and go and it is what it is and, you know, adapt.

Mike Bolland (16:40):
Yeah. And that’s an, that’s a great response because that this is the reason for the we’re not Stu podcast. We’re all going through different journeys and there’s not right or wrong answer to that. And I, I really appreciate that answer. But through what you do on, uh, Instagram, you’re also an ambassador for Point Designs. Would you like to speak to that a little bit?

Angie Coe (16:55):
Sure. You know, that was, that was, I was so excited. They asked me, they, they had one ambassador before me, and it was Jeff. You had him on, um, on your podcasts too. Um, I went, it took about a ye um, probably 14 months since my accident for me to get an actual prosthetic. It’s not an overnight thing. Um, I had a lot of surgeries in between that time. A lot of physical therapy, your hand changes. So by the time I did have to go get a prosthetic, I went to Arm Dynamics, uh, in Portland and, you know, I had to be there. I had to go there once a month for three months or, yeah. Once a month for three months, a week at a time. So I just had this like, bonding experience with them. I, I think they saw that I’m very, uh, you know, free spirited. I, I like to talk to people. I’m not shy in any way. And I think that’s kind of what they wanted. So they reached out to Point Designs and they were like, , you know, she might be a good one for it. So, you know, when Point designs reached out to me and I had no idea any of this was going on, it’s not like I was being this way to try to get something. This is just me. Mm-hmm. . Um, so when they reached out to me, I was like, oh,

Mike Bolland (18:11):
.

Angie Coe (18:11):
Yeah. All excited. So I said yes. And that’s how the bionic anti page started because I didn’t have that page before that I wanted to do good for them. I wanted, um, to make sure that I got the, the word out that their prosthetic is awesome. Yeah. You know, there’s, there’s not a lot, there’s not a lot of options for partial hand at all. Yeah. Um, so in doing that, the ambassadorship kind of pushed me towards being this kind of amputee advocate and being able to talk to these people and have these people reach out to me. And it’s, it’s, my life is so good because of it. It’s helped me recover, helping people helps me. So

Mike Bolland (18:56):
That’s a strong message. I I really like that message. And you, it’s three, is it three fingers? I think you have it with you, don’t you? That you’re a prosthetic?

Angie Coe (19:03):
Uh, the prosthetic. Yeah.

Mike Bolland (19:04):
Yeah. And you, you were saying earlier that it helps while you’re put it, that’s amazing. It helps your index finger because it doesn’t hit the way the index finger is.

Angie Coe (19:13):
Yeah. So what happens is when the prosthetic is on, which I wear it quite a bit. Yeah. Um, I probably wear it, uh, anywhere from six to eight hours a day. Wow. Um, but when the prosthetic is on, see what, when I do things, this finger has the, um, the, the point design’s finger to rest on. Absolutely. So anytime I’m doing something, it has that stability where if I didn’t have it on, um, and I’m trying to do something, it has this major push down. Oh yeah. And it just, it completely

ruins my hand. I, I go through quite a bit of pain, um, in the, the, uh, remaining fingers if I try to do things without the prosthetic.
Mike Bolland (19:56):
Interesting. And I, I noticed when you put it on that you twisted something as you did. And this is, yeah. You know, my own ignorance, is that to tighten it on to

Angie Coe (20:05):
Your Yeah, it is. Okay. This is called the boa, it’s a BOA system. So you, you see these on like snowboarding boots and stuff like that. Oh, this is awesome. Yeah. Um, and it’s got this, this wire. So I push it in and then I twist it and it heightens onto my wrist. And the cool thing about this system is that I can have it as looser, as tight as I want. So if I’m doing something, like if I’m, if I’m taking my hand and I’m going climbing on rocks, like I’m going to want this tight. Yes. So I can crank that down and have it tight and put my fingers in the position, and then I can grip onto rocks and actually hoist myself up. Wow. Each finger holds 150 pounds. Wow. So it’s really, really, really strong. And if I’m just doing something, um, you know, like cooking or using it for anything else, I can just pull it up, kind of wiggle my thumb to loosen that so I have a nice loose, uh, spot and then push it down and then it stays on like that as well. Awesome.

Mike Bolland (21:06):
. Yeah. That’s very interesting. Again, thank you for letting me know because I, I don’t know, even as, you know, an amputee myself, but my, my old archaic cook is back here . So everything, that’s one of the things we talked about a little off camera. The technology nowadays is really amazing. And I think, uh, you know, people that are going through their journeys, um, you know, they need to know that there there is, you know, light at the end of the tunnel to a certain extent and Oh yeah. A lot of things out. Go ahead. I’m sorry.

Angie Coe (21:30):
No, no, no, no, no. I was disagreeing with you. Yeah, it, it’s true. There’s the, the amount I went to OT world, so in Germany it was, I got to walk around and see the technology. It’s amazing. It is what they have, the ability they have, we’ve come a long way. And I know they’re still a long way to go. But from your archaic arm, which we talked about till what we have now is, is mind blowing.

Mike Bolland (21:55):
You know, I, it’s pretty neat. I know they still make those types of hooks, but I showed you a picture a little earlier where what was considered an artificial hand back in the day, it was like six inches longer on one side. . It is, it is. And you know, the thing is, as I bring up that, um, picture reminds me of something we talked about a little earlier about how when you’re out in public, you, you may have your prosthetic on, you may not, but kids or even adults may come up and, and start asking you questions and you’re fine with that. You want to talk about that a little bit more?

Angie Coe (22:21):
Yeah. I, I enjoy it. Um, we, I don’t ever want anybody to feel bad for being curious because, you know, I don’t look like the normal person in, in that sense. You know, I, I, it, it draws people’s attention, especially when I have the prosthetic on. You know, it’s cool. People are interested in it, it’s cool. So when I see kids and they’re like whispering to their mom or even just shouting out loud, you know, I’ll go over to them and I’ll talk to them. I’ll take my prosthetic off and let them hold it, you know, and play around with it. It’s so tough. I’m not worried about it breaking. Um, so, you know, after when I, when the hand is off and they see my actual hand, um, I, I tell them what happened is I didn’t eat my vegetables. And this is what when you don’t, so then it kind of breaks the ice and everybody giggles. The parents especially, uh, the kids are like, woo, ,

Mike Bolland (23:18):
Wink, wink, not none.

Angie Coe (23:20):
Yeah. But then I just kind of dive into the more serious side of it and tell ’em what happened and let them know that, you know, there’s nothing that, that I can’t do. Um, and same with adults. You know, adults are massively curious too. They’re more along the like, you know, look down, look up, look down, look up. You know, like Yeah. Try to kind of hide it. Yeah. Um, kids don’t hide things. Kids are very like, what is that? Yeah. Um, but even with the adults, like I’ll, I’ll tell them that I got in a fight with a mountain lion and they’re like, no way. You know, breaking the ice and humor is very, very, very important. But everybody is loving the prosthetic. They love that the most. I flip off everybody, you know, that I, I go, if I go into jury duty and I have to go through the, like, the metal detector, I’ll flip off all the cops and they’re like, oh, .

Mike Bolland (24:10):
Oh, it reminds me. I’ll point to people at people like this. And then I’ll, I’m not pointing at you, I’m actually flipping you off. You just can’t see it. Yeah. That’s what’s going on right now, . But you know, you, you talked about some of the things you can do and you’re back to doing. I think everything, I’ve seen you on horses, I’ve seen you shooting, I even seen you bowling, by the

Angie Coe (24:25):
Way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. .

Mike Bolland (24:27):
Yeah. So you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re pretty much doing everything or is there still things you’re, you’re looking to accomplish?

Angie Coe (24:32):
There’s nothing I can’t do that’s, there’s, there’s absolutely nothing I can’t do. Um, I I, I have not gotten back on a motorcycle, so that’s something that I haven’t done. I’m not opposed to it. Sure. But, um, it, that, that makes me a little bit more nervous because it’s not, it, it’s not an electric hand. Mm-hmm. . And even with an electric hand, I think it might be, it probably would be difficult because, uh, the myoelectrics are slow, right? Mm-hmm. . Um, but, um, I can’t, like, I’m sure I could do it and, and maybe I’ll, I’ll give it a go at some point, like on a quiet road, or whatever. Maybe I Well, you jump on the freeway right away,

Mike Bolland (25:11):
Well, you get the front brake and the accelerator on the right side. So yeah,

Angie Coe (25:15):
That would be interesting. Right. So there’s, I’m not there. I have no fear. Sure. I have no fear. There’s there, you know, I’ll still go off-roading even though my accident happened, uh, while I was off-roading. Yeah. Um, I’ll go horseback ride on cliffs, you know, I love shooting my pistols and my rifles. There’s even, even when I shoot my pistols and my rifles and I hurt my hand, it’s like, okay, I just got to kick back and my hand’s all swollen. Now it’s time to stop for the day and then I’ll do it again tomorrow. You know, there’s, I don’t, I’ve never been the type to hold fear .

Mike Bolland (25:48):
Well, you, you, you’re, you’re back to what you want to do. Yeah. And, and I think at the end of the day, that’s kind of the, the message I that I think I get from you is like, Hey, you went through this, but you’re back and you’re still going to live your life. And I think that’s fantastic. Yeah.

Angie Coe (25:59):
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. There’s, there’s no reason for things to hold you back to having, and, and, and I understand. I get a lot of amputees that are like, I can’t do this. I’ll never be able to do this. And it’s like, attitude is huge. I think attitude is huge. And if you, if you feel that way, then in that moment you’re probably not. But if you take on the attitude, I’m going to do it. I can do it, I can do it. And you put forth the work and the effort, um, then I truly feel like that people will be able to do it. Now if they’re in that, that I can’t do it frame of mind, then there’s nothing wrong with that. True. That’s just how they are in that moment. Sure. You know, being a trauma amputee, you go through phases, right? Yeah. You, you, there, it’s a whole process that you have to go through. And I can’t imagine having somebody be like, oh, I can do everything right away, because it’s, that’s not true. It’s not true. You have to put in the work.

Mike Bolland (26:59):
Yeah, absolutely. It, it, and as I see you on your Instagram page and with others, and you had a, an expression for that. Others you’ve met, like you, what did you call that again?

Angie Coe (27:10):
Oh, my, uh, my hand twins.

Mike Bolland (27:12):
your hand twins. I think that’s,

Angie Coe (27:13):
That’s great. There, there’s quite a few people that have the same injury as me, you know, with the index and the thumb left. Um, and they’re, they’re totally my hand twins, .

Mike Bolland (27:23):
And I think your journey and how you share what you’re doing, you know, almost throughout your whole journey has really helped people understand that there is light at the end of the tunnel, as I kind of said earlier. So, um, is there, as you think about your journey though, um, what were some of the things that either surprise you for the good, the bad, if that makes sense, like, boy, that was harder. Boy, that was actually a little easier than I thought. Anything that comes to mind

Angie Coe (27:47):
In activities? You mean

Mike Bolland (27:48):
Just in life in general?

Angie Coe (27:50):
In life, yeah. Um, you know, physically there was a lot of hard, you know, physically there was a lot of hard, the, for, for me, I had, I had, uh, three surgeries, which in with my amputation seemed like very little. Uh, I’ve, I’ve seen other people that had this pretty much the same injury as me, and they had many, many, many surgeries. I’m so grateful for my surgeons and having the doctors that I have. Yeah. Um, physically, yeah, there was a lot of hurdles. I had never, I had never had any kind of injury before, you know, especially with the lifestyle that I had. This, I’m surprised that this is the first thing that’s, that’s happened to me that’s truly bad. Um, but, but every day is a new day. So even if I feel just down in the dumps physically, and I, and I, if you’re down in the dumps that physically it does kind of take over the emotional and you’re like, oh, you just kind of get this frustrated, uh, what is my life kind of feel?

Angie Coe (28:51):
But tomorrow’s a new day. So I always would go to sleep and wake up and try to be positive and, you know, go from there. Activities wise. Um, everything was a challenge. Right. Everything I did was a challenge. E even cooking, you know, I, I tell, I call myself the queen of spills now because I drop everything, you know, I break plates. I, you know, I do ranch work, so I collect eggs. I don’t know how many eggs I’ve broken. You know, there’s, there’s, and there’s a, a, a level of frustration that happens in the beginning, and then you just kind of are like, all right, it happened again, , you know? Yeah. Just kind of laugh it off. But I didn’t, I didn’t really have any, any crazy, crazy intense like, um, mental struggles. It was a lot more physical for me.

Mike Bolland (29:44):
And then are you talking like the frustrations, I guess what I get out of that again, being a congenital, I, I don’t have to go through some of those things, but it’s, it’s a natural form of healing, it sounds like. Yeah. And you, you, you too shall overcome eventually. Right. Does that make sense? Is that something Yes.

Angie Coe (30:00):
Yeah, absolutely. There’s, there’s, you know, you cannot expect to be how you were. Yeah. You know, and if you have that expectation, um, it, I feel like you’re going to get let down. You have to adapt and learn other ways. You can still at the end of the tunnel reach the same that you used to be, but there’s this long learning curve that ha that you have to, to go through to get there. Um, I truly feel like there’s nothing that amputees can’t do. You know, I, I almost feel like we can do more things than, than people with both hands or both legs can do, you know? Um, and having, having a prosthetic in my brain, I know that it, everybody has different ideas and feelings, but for me, I think this is cool as hell. Oh,

Mike Bolland (30:47):
I think it is too. You know, , I think it’s

Angie Coe (30:49):
Too ashamed. Yeah. I’m not shy. I’m not, I mean, even when I see other amputees out, I have never run into another upper limb amputee ever except for at, uh, uh, um, prosthetic conventions. But I see leg amputees all the time, and I just like, it, it just, they, I just think it’s so cool what their leg looks like. I always want to talk to them. I want to hear their story. Yeah. I’m fascinated The story fascinates me. Yeah. You know what I mean? They, they got there where they are. It, it’s, I just think amputees are strong, cool people.

Mike Bolland (31:27):
Well, I couldn’t agree more. And, and one of the things you said is interesting. I even told you, you know, gosh, I’m, I would, I would say I’m a little older than you, but I’m probably a lot older than you. I, you know, growing up like this, I never saw anyone else like me. And so you kind of tend to feel like you’re on an island, good or bad. I’m not going to judge it either way. Um, but as you start to dive into the community, and I’ve met Nicole Kelly, who you’ve met, and she’s fantastic. And Jeff, yep. Solberg, as you talked about, it’s really is a strong community with a lot of great people in it. It is. And it is, I would say, for people. And as you described earlier, you when, when the, when your accident first happened, you’re trying to do some research and I had a gentleman on named, uh, Dan Moses doing the same thing. And there wasn’t a lot out there, but hopefully we’re going to start to get a little bit more out there and get that community together, kind of talk through these kind of things. And your attitude certainly is, uh, v very welcome,

Angie Coe (32:15):
Well, thank you. I think what you’re doing is awesome. I think being able, because you don’t see interviews with amputees, I mean, I haven’t seen that. And I think when somebody who is going through something, um, no matter what the situation is for, for, you know, recent amputee, uh, amputee for a long time, if they’re on YouTube and they stumble across this, they’re going to be fascinated and interested and, and, and relate to some of the things that, that everybody is talking about. So I, I really applaud you for doing this. I think it’s awesome.

Mike Bolland (32:49):
Well, thank you because I think these stories do need to be told, but as, as you said earlier though, people do contact you. And I want to make sure, and I’m going to have the link, if you know you’re listening to the podcast on a podcast or on YouTube, I’m going to have the link to your Instagram, but it’s bionic underscore Angie if I’m not mistaken. Is that correct? Yes, correct.

Mike Bolland (33:07):
Is correct. And I can vouch if she does answer, because that’s how I contacted you , and she was kind enough to get back with me. So I really do appreciate it. Is there anything else you’d like to add? I mean, I certainly welcome you back on the podcast. Is there something you want to talk about in the future? But I, I’ve taken a lot of your time and there’s a backstory to that, that we, we won’t get into. I have taken a of your time today. , uh, anything you’d like to add though,

Angie Coe (33:28):
No, just, you know, if anybody does go through something, ask for help. For me it was really, really hard to ask for help. Um, I am strong-willed, strong-minded, you know, stubborn. Uh, and when I was going through recovery, I put myself through a lot of health trying to do things on my own. You know, I injured myself worse. I, you know, I, I could have, it could have been even worse. You know, I made my family members and my friends very angry because I’m so stubborn and wanted to do things myself. It’s okay to ask for help, even if it’s reaching out to me or reaching out to Mike or Jeff or Nicole or anybody. You know, we are all open and o all open ears. We want to hear your story. We want to help. Um, you know, that, that, that’s my biggest thing for amputees. Ask for help. It’s okay.

Mike Bolland (34:22):
Wow. That is a very powerful statement. Thank you for saying it that way. And I couldn’t agree with you more. Um, I, I’d say thank you again for being on the podcast. Uh, this has

Angie Coe (34:31):
Been a thank you so much. It was, it was awesome.

Mike Bolland (34:32):
I’m honored to have you on, you’re a fantastic guest. And , we can certainly see why Point Designs thought you’d be a great ambassador because you really are. So thank you again for being on

Angie Coe (34:40):
The podcast. Thank you Mike so much. I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
Stump podcast hosted by Mike Bolland. If you want to be a guest on the program, reach out to Mike at his email address, mike@mikebolland.com. This podcast is produced by One Hand Man Productions.