Season 10 of The Heart of Detroit is now airing monthly!
At 24 Chris Casteel became an amputee due to a motorcycle accident.
Chris: One minute I was a man living in the auto industry and the next day I was disabled and unemployed and now I had to ask for help.
It was a vulnerability he was unaccustomed to. But Chris did something that not many in his situation would do. He started visiting other amputees in the hospital offering to help them
Kim: It wasn’t fast enough with Chris wheeling himself so he said, “Kim, you need to wheel me to all these rooms because I can’t get there fast enough. And there were so many motorcycle victims and he wanted to talk to every one of them.
Chris’s passion for helping others grew into a new profession. He became a certified Orthotist and Prosthetist and he and Kim founded Anew Life Prosthetics and Orthotics.
Mitch: There’s been so many advances in the world of prosthetics.
Chris: We’ve been doing digital scanning to capture the geometry and then CAD CAM like in the automotive industry to modify that geometry. Now, 3D print, so devices that would be manually made. Now we can 3D print in a fraction of the time.
These advances have afforded Chris and Kim the opportunity to support a new clientele. They work alongside shelters, churches, and organizations to identify needs in the homeless community.
Mitch: And you provide these prosthetics to members of the homeless community and others for free.
Chris: As often as we can.
Mitch: Is that we’re A New Life came from?
Chris: Yes, A New seems to work very well for a descriptive for what we do for people.
An accident changed his life but this time for the better. Chris and Kim Casteel are giving the gift of mobility right here in the heart of Detroit.
