What does it mean to have a Limb Difference?

Why? How? What happened?

Hearing the phrase Limb Difference can sound pretty self-explanatory, because it is. Limb Difference simple means that someone is born without all or part of a limb(s), or someone has suffered an accident and has lost all or part of a limb(s). The tricky part of understanding the facts about Limb Difference is that there are a lot of different reasons this can happen. I'm going to try to explain the different situations as best as I can.

Amniotic Band Syndrome: a group of congenital birth defects believed to be caused by entrapment of fetal parts (usually a limb or digits) in fibrous amniotic bands while in utero. That's the scientific term, but in other words, it means that while a baby is in the womb, bands get wrapped around limbs or fingers in the result of cutting off circulation and losing the limb or finger. This is probably the most common form of limb loss as a birth defect.


Symbrachydactyly: I know, I know, It's a long word but bare with me. This simply means that there is an abnormality in a limb. Most cases it's more of missing or short fingers or toes rather than a whole or majority of a limb. The cause of this is unknown. Some theories are that the correct amount of blood flow wasn't reached to the finger or toes. This doesn't have anything to do with what a mother did or did not do during pregnancy. This happens 1 in every 30,000-40,000 births.

 

Now the last kind of limb difference is from external incidents. Meaning limbs were lost as a result from a trauma to the body such as a car accident, machine accident and even an infection. This is a very common type of limb difference in adults. Typically children with missing limbs, were born with the defect but in adults, more than likely, the cause is some sort of accident or infection resulting in amputation. 

For me, we've never known for sure what happened, but most of the arrows point to Amniotic Band Syndrome. Either way, I'm blessed to be living this life as someone with a disability.