Arlene Cohen is a below the knee amputee in her left leg. Cohen had an unfortunate accident in which she broke the distal end of her tibia. It had been three painful years, several surgeries, and getting osteomyelitis on her ankle joint since the Florida native shattered her left foot in a snowboarding injury on Peak 10 at Breckenridge Ski Resort. In the most recent surgery, doctors were supposed to have removed bone from her hip to fill in gaps in her ankle, allowing it to heal, but it was clear then that they could not reconstruct the ankle, leaving only the option of fusing her ankle, a process that would keep Cohen from ever being able to snowboard, dance, run or return to her job as a firefighter for the city of Fort Lauderdale, or they could amputate her foot.
After plenty of research, she chose amputation. Thanks to the Thrive VS2 Prosthetic Foot and her perseverance, Cohen is now back to work as an active duty firefighter for the City of Fort Lauderdale and is as active as she has ever been before. Her most recent para-snowboarding accomplishments include:
- One-time Paralympian (2018)
- PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, 7th (banked slalom)
Check out her story in the video below!