On today’s episode of Demand And Disrupt, Lisa speaks with Jason Koger, the first person in the world to receive two bionic hands. In March of 2008, Jason suffered major tissue damage after coming in contact with a downed powerline. In order to save his life, doctors were forced to amputate both arms below the elbow. Jason recounts the day of his accident, and how his journey towards healing ultimately led him to discover a greater purpose. Listen to hear more about how Jason now uses his experience to help and encourage others.
Thanks to Chris Ankin for use of his song, “Change.”
The book "A Celebration of Family: Stories of Parents with Disabilities." is available from Amazon here.
Send comments and questions to demandanddisrupt@gmail.com
Demand and Disrupt is sponsored by the Advocado Press and the Center For Accessible Living.
Thanks to Steve Moore for the transcription which you can find in the show notes below when they become available.
Kimberly Parsley 00:00
Welcome to Demand and Disrupt: A Disability Podcast. Here we will learn to advocate for ourselves
and each other. This podcast is supported with funds from the Advocato Press, based in Louisville,
Kentucky.
Welcome everyone to Demand and Disrupt: A Disability Podcast! This is Kimberly Parsley and I'm here
with Lisa McKinley. Hey, Lisa! How are you?
Lisa McKinley 00:21
Hey, everyone! I'm great. How are you?
Kimberly Parsley 00:24
I'm doing well. It's October. So, it’s only about 87 here in Kentucky now. But at least there's hope.
Right?
Lisa McKinley 00:31
Maybe we'll get a break soon. Maybe.
Kimberly Parsley 00:33
Fingers crossed. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Tell me, did it not just
used to be regular old National Disability Awareness Month? Do you know?
Lisa McKinley 00:50
I think you're right. I guess they have to add the national on now for who knows what reason.
Kimberly Parsley 00:56
Well, it's not the national add on, it’s the employment. Instead of just disability awareness, now… As
disabled folks, it’s really all about just how much productivity we can do for the man.
Lisa McKinley 01:12
I thought it was two different things. I thought we got two months, but we only get one. How rude!
Kimberly Parsley 01:21
Well, July was Disability Pride Month. So, there's that. And then there's International Disability Day,
which is like in December. We have some things going on for that that I'll tell everyone closer to time.
But maybe I'm just being greedy. Maybe I just want too much.
Lisa McKinley 01:40
No, I think we get we should get every day.
Kimberly Parsley 01:43
There you go! There you go. I love it. Another thing to celebrate is that it is near or just past the 50th
anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which I'm sure you learned all about in school. Correct?
Lisa McKinley 02:06
[laughter] No, not at all.
Kimberly Parsley
Exactly.
Lisa McKinley
But I am so happy those people, so many people, paved the way for us 50 years ago!
Kimberly Parsley
They did! They did.
Lisa McKinley
Do you remember 50 years ago?
Kimberly Parsley 02:18
I do not. I was not alive 50 years ago. I was not! But Judy Human for instance (I think of her because
she passed away very recently); we are losing a lot of our idols: those who fought these battles so that
we could enjoy the rights and privileges that we have now. One thing that people can turn to: there's an
excellent Netflix documentary called Crip Camp. Crip, of course, for cripple. I think they're taking back
using that word – people who are disabled and want to take back that word are doing that – and I think
that that's fine. So, it's called Crip Camp and it is on Netflix and it is an amazing documentary about the
Independent Living Movement. At the end, it does talk about that culmination of the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973. I advise everyone to look that up on Netflix. It is very moving; I cried a bit.
Lisa McKinley 03:28
That's something I've not watched yet. I'll have to renew my Netflix subscription. That sounds like
something I definitely need to watch.
Kimberly Parsley 03:39
It is really wonderful. Now, you do our interview today. Why don’t you tell me about who you're going to
be talking with.
Lisa McKinley 03:50
I did! I had the pleasure of speaking with Jason Koger. Jason lost both of his hands back in March of
2008 after he came in contact with a downed power line. He received several thousand volts of
electricity, which he'll tell us about later in the interview. In order to save his life, doctors had to remove
both of his arms and hands below the elbow. He is the first bilateral hand amputee to receive two bionic
hands, but what's really fascinating about Jason and his story is he has been able to use these hands
and do things with the hands that the company, the designers of the bionics, didn't even know were
possible! Changing the oil in his car, hunting, fishing – intricate little movements that they didn't even
think were possible! As a result, he's been featured on CNN, he’s been in an episode of Hawaii Five-0,
he’s been featured on Dr. Gupta. He’s even appeared in a movie with Matthew McConaughey!
Kimberly Parsley 05:13
Really? Wow!
Lisa McKinley 05:16
Yeah! Quite fascinating! I really enjoyed talking with him.
Kimberly Parsley 05:21
Excellent! That sounds great. All right, everyone, we're gonna hear Lisa's interview with Jason Koger.
Lisa McKinley 05:32
Welcome, Jason.
Jason Koger 05:33
Thank you very much for having me.
Lisa McKinley 05:36
If you would, take us back to that day. March 1, 2008.
Jason Koger 05:42
Yep. March 1, 2008. It was the first warm day of the year. I don't know, it was probably in the mid-70s, it
was beautiful outside. I had been working seven twelves prior to that (seven days a week, 12-hour day
shifts) and making really good money. I was putting extra money on my home so that I could get it paid
down quite a bit, which by March 1, I had paid quite a bit extra on my house. That obviously helped
because when I went through my accident, I couldn't work, I couldn't pay for things that I had before.
So, definitely, that had helped me out.
On March 1, 2008, I woke up that morning (probably the 1 st day that I had a day off in quite a while)
wanting to do something with my kids. My oldest daughter was 21 months old and my youngest was
three months old at the time. So, I took them to Owensboro to go on a little train ride at the mall. We
went and did that, came back home and I laid them down for a nap. Then, I decided that I was going to
go on a quick 4-wheeler ride around my grandfather's farm, which literally was a 5-minute ride. It was
about a quarter of a mile long; something that I've been around for my entire life. I tell people that
whenever you're at your house and the lights are out and in the middle of the night and you want to
walk to the bathroom or go to the kitchen or whatever, you can get up without turning lights on and
know exactly where things are (furniture, obstacles, etc.) and make it to wherever you're going and not
run into walls because you're so familiar with where you're at. That’s how I felt around this farm
because I've been around it my entire life.
So, I went on this quick 4-wheeler ride. The driving trail makes a U-shape: it starts at my house, goes
behind my house, then U-shaped to my grandfather's. At the 2 nd left hand turn, there's a culvert (the
only place you can go through) and there was a downed power line that I didn't see. The line was about
30 inches off the ground and I came in contact with it. At 1 st , it didn't do anything to me, but then, as I
was trying to look to see where the line was going, it energized and I took 7200 volts of electricity. A lot
of people don’t even know what 7200 volts is, but 7200 volts is actually more than the electric chair
used for execution. Electric chairs are only 6800 volts, but it was enough power that it stopped my heart
for 30 seconds (because when you get electrocuted, it electrocutes you for 30 seconds and then it kicks
the breaker off). So, I took 7200 volts for 30 seconds. The power of the 7200 volts was enough that it
stopped my heart for 30 seconds and blew my shoe off. It came out of the bottom of my right foot and
they found my tennis shoe 30 feet from where I was laying.
Lisa McKinley 09:05
Oh my goodness! How did you survive that? That's a miracle!
Jason Koger 09:13
Yeah! There are not very many people that do survive 7200 volts, really. That's a lot!
Lisa McKinley 09:27
Your cousin was with you. Right?
Jason Koger 09:30
Yes. My cousin was behind me whenever I got injured and he knew that I got electrocuted. He doesn’t
speak a lot about it, to be honest with you, and I really think that he thought that was the end of my life.
I think he thought that. He said that it looked like the Fourth of July was coming off my body, that sparks
we're going everywhere! When you get electrocuted, it actually burns you from the inside out. It exited
out my left thumb as well. It pretty much blew my left thumb off; it was just barely hanging on. It also
ripped the tendons off the tips of my fingers, so all 10 of my tendons were wrapped around my wrists. I
looked like a stroke victim where my hands wouldn't straighten; they were curled up. My hands would
have never worked, even if they did save them.
When you get electrocuted, it burns you from the inside out and causes poisonous toxins inside your
body. The poison has to go somewhere, so it goes through your kidneys. I was life-flighted to Vanderbilt
Hospital. While I was in the helicopter, they catheterized me and the urine bag that was beside me
looked like Dr. Pepper. It was all the blood and poison going through my body, which was shutting my
kidneys down. Ultimately, when I made it to Vanderbilt, it was a life-or-death situation because of all the
poison and the chemicals that were inside of my body. They had to find where the infection was and get
rid of the infection. The infection for me was in both of my hands. So, immediately, they had to
amputate both my hands in order to save my life because of my kidneys.
Lisa McKinley 11:37
I would assume, and for me, every time I share my story, because I've been asked lots of times over
the years how I lost my vision, it takes a little of the, I guess the sting out or the power of that day and it
becomes easier. Have you found that as well?
Jason Koger 11:59
Yeah. I think things happen for a reason and I feel like my reason is to share with others that, no matter
what you go through, you can get through it. I think some people look at my story and they're like, “How
can it be any worse than losing two arms?” Well, I don't know what it's like to lose 2 legs. Right? I don't
know what it's like to lose vision or lose hearing or lose whatever it is. No matter how bad it is, we're all
blessed with so many good things in our lives and things that we all need and use and whenever
something is taken away from you, you have to use that for whatever and how ever you can in a
positive way to show everybody that at the end of the day, God does all things for a reason and in a
positive way. That’s why I love sharing my story now. I share my story hoping I can inspire others to
overcome anything, whatever they're going through.
Lisa McKinley 13:11
Yes! I heard someone put it in a really good way once. It always stuck with me. He said, “Focus on the
things you can do, not the things you can’t do. If you focus on the things you can't do, it will steal the joy
from the things you can do.” That’s so true. Can you tell me what it was like when you first woke up in
the hospital?
Jason Koger 13:36
Yeah. When I first woke up and my dad told me, basically, I didn't know I had lost my arms. Right? I
was in an induced coma for three days and I really didn't… Whenever he told me that I lost my hands
and forearms, the first thing that went through my mind was not, “How am I gonna be able to live or
survive or feed myself or dress myself,” or whatever. I didn't think about all that stuff. I just kept on
thinking about my kids. At the time, I had two little girls (now I have three, three kids), but at the time
having two kids, the most important thing was for them to still have their dad. Right? The other stuff
(and I say little stuff), but the dressing yourself, feeding yourself and doing things on your own really
wasn't as important to me. Of anything out of my entire life, nothing was as important as just being a
dad: being able to teach my kids, walk across the street with my kids, play baseball, do the things that
every parent wants to do. So, in the back of my mind, I just kept on and kept on thinking, “How can I still
be the dad that I want to be?” That was most important to me.
Lisa McKinley 15:06
You say your doctor came in and asked you something or made a proposal to you the day you woke
up. Can you tell us what that was?
Jason Koger 15:20
Yeah. Dr. Guy was my doctor. He came into the hospital room, sat down with me and he explained to
me, basically, why they had to amputate (because of the poisonous toxins inside my body). He also told
me, “Jason, you're gonna be in the hospital for months.” He said, “Before you get out of this hospital, I
want you to think of maybe one goal that you have and make sure that it is realistic. I want to try to help
you reach that one goal that you have.” He said, “I want you to sit and think about what that goal is and,
again, make sure that it's something that's realistic.” He stood up to walk out of my hospital room and I
told him, “Dr. Guy, I know what I want. I know the goal that I have and I do want you to help me reach
this goal.” He asked, “What is the goal that you have?” and I told him. I said, “If I can hold my kids
again, that's all I care about.” At the time of my accident, my oldest was 21 months old and my
youngest was three months old. Again, I wasn't worried about how I was going to be able to dress
myself or feed myself, I just wanted to be able to hold my kids again. I'll never forget him looking at me
and telling me that that would happen.
Anyway, I think it was the next day or maybe a couple of days later, Dr. Guy walks in my room, sits
down with me and he says, “Hey, Jason, your kids are here to see you. I'm gonna bring them into your
room.” I said, “No! I don't want my kids in this room!” because at the time, I had tubes hanging out of
my arms, I didn't have hands, I had heart monitors, I had feeding tubes, catheters. I mean, I was
hooked up to all kinds of stuff and I remember telling him that I didn't want my kids in my room like that.
They're already gonna be scared of me with no hands, I don’t want them to see me with all this other
stuff hooked up to me. Again, he told me I was gonna be in this hospital for months. So that day, I
talked him into unplugging me, taking the feeding tubes out and catheter out. He got me up and got me
out of the bed and that very day, I went to the waiting room.
That was the first day that I held my kids! My oldest, Billie Grace, was 21 months old and she was
scared to get in front of me, but she would come up from behind me and put her head over my shoulder
and talk to me. Campbell was three months old and I held her for the first time; that was probably four
or five days after losing both my arms. And that one goal that I reached? When it happened, I had a
peace that I felt that I knew everything was gonna be okay. Everything was gonna work out and my life
was gonna be great. I was gonna make it great! I reached the first goal that I ever tried to do, so I knew
life was gonna be hard, but I knew it was gonna be good. I would be able to overcome this situation.
Lisa McKinley 18:43
Wow! And you made that goal! That was the first day or the second? Really early on!
Jason Koger 18:53
It was the first day I was awake that I made that goal. I was in an induced coma for three days, so that
was the very first day that I was awake that I knew I wanted to do that, that that was my goal. I think it
was the day after, so either the fifth or the sixth day after losing my hands was the day I reached that
goal.
Lisa McKinley 19:15
It's amazing what motivation our children provide! Your children, your family. They will motivate you to
do things and find strength in yourself you did not know you had. So, I think it was really fortunate for
you that you had children at the time. Do you think it might have been different if you didn't have that
motivation?
Jason Koger 19:38
I know that I feel like just knowing that I had two kids at home that needed their dad, I am sure, was a
huge benefit for my success or for my overcoming and I don't know how I would have felt if I didn't have
that. I was 29 years old, freshly married, starting a family. Was it my age that made it better or…? I
don't know. I think it all comes down to the community that I had around me, the friends that I
surrounded myself with, the family that I had, the age – everything lined up. The faith! I think faith is one
of the biggest things you have to have in order to succeed through any kind of a bad situation or a bad
accident or whatever it is. Because at the end of the day, every single person is going to go through a
bad day or a bad time. It may not be physical; it may be mental. But everybody is going to go through a
hard time and we all have to be prepared to overcome whatever that is. It may be something a lot
smaller than what I went through. But it may be something that's a lot bigger than what I went through.
Lisa McKinley 21:14
Tell me what it was like coming home for the first time.
Jason Koger 21:18
Whenever I first got home, I was actually, like I said, supposed to have been in the hospital for months.
I asked Dr. Guy the things that I had to do in order to get home and the goals that I had to reach in
order to go home and I reached all those goals. So, 12 days after losing both of my arms, I was
released from the hospital and I came back home to Owensboro. I worked extremely hard to get home.
Because you're from here, you may know where this is, but when you get on Frederick Street and you
go south it turns into 431. I just live just south of the mall, the old mall, and there’s a church on the right-
hand side before you get to my house called Panther Creek Baptist Church. That day that I made it
home (which no one knew I was coming home that day) somebody had called the church on my drive
home and they went out and they put a message on the board that I could see. It said, “Welcome
home, Jason! We've been praying for you.”
I will never forget seeing that sign! The people in this community – I wish that every place was like this
one – the people in my community came to my house, they brought us meals, they cleaned our house,
they would babysit or watch me and let Jenny go to town just to have her time (which is my wife), they
would do everything that we could ask for anybody to do for us. And some of them were complete
strangers!
When I was injured and I lost my arms, I felt like I was the only person in the world that lost an upper
limb. I've never seen anybody without an arm but one person, my grandfather. He lost one arm and he
passed away about three months before I was injured. He was the only person that I had ever seen in
my life that lost an arm. When I lost mine, I felt like I was the second person in the world to ever lose an
upper limb. Obviously, the last 16 years I have met people all over the country that have lost one arm,
two arms, all four limbs.
I set out on this mission when I first got home: I was going to share my story with as many people as I
could share my story with in hopes that I would meet new amputees and help them in this journey that I
had on my own and share with them my story, my experiences, the things that I've learned and be that
encouragement or that resource that they need. I've been very successful at doing that and I don't do
that for money; I don’t get paid to do that. I don't think that anybody could pay me enough to match the
satisfaction that I get whenever I work with new amputees and I get to see their first smile or I get to
see their eyes light up whenever they get hope. You know what I mean? And the smile that they get
knowing that their life is definitely going to be different, but it's still going to be okay.
Lisa McKinley 24:44
Now, when you got home you hit the road running. Right? Tell me about your first drive.
Jason Koger 24:55
The day I got home (that was 12 days after my accident), my wife went to town to get some groceries
and my mom was sitting in our house with me. I went to her and I said, “Hey, Mom, where are the keys
to my truck?” And she said, “I don't know, on the counter, I guess. Why?” I said, “Because I want to see
them.” I remember her giving me these keys and saying, “What do you want to do with them?” And I
said, “Just put them in my mouth.” She said, “Well, I'll just go outside with you.” I said, “Mom, I don't
want you to. I just want to go outside and I want to see what I can do for myself.” And I remember her
putting the keys in my mouth and me going outside and doing everything that I could do to open my
truck door. I used my mouth, my teeth, my feet, I mean everything that I had in order to open this door.
It might have taken me 15 or 20 minutes, but I finally got the door open to my truck. I got in my truck
and I got the key in the ignition and I got it started! Once I did that, I thought, “You know what? I got to
try to drive.” And I drove around my grandfather's farm just 12 days after losing both my arms.
Lisa McKinley 26:08
Yes! Absolutely! You can never define yourself by what people say you should be or what you can or
cannot do. I learned that early on. It sounds like you definitely have that spirit about you. Another story
I've heard you tell and we have to tell this one because it's just so, so fun! Tell us about turkey hunting.
Jason Koger 26:33
I love the outdoors. I love to hunt. March 1st was when I got hurt and April is when turkey season
comes in. So, just a month (a little over a month) after my accident, my buddy called me – one of my
best friends named Sam Smith. Sam called me and he said, “Hey, let's go turkey hunting.” I thought
about it for a minute and I said, “Sam, how can I go turkey hunting? I don't have prosthetics. I'm still
bleeding. I'm still wrapped up. I cannot do this!” And he said, “Sure you can! I think I got it figured out.”
Well, I called my doctor and by this time I had become super good friends with my doctor, texting him
back and forth. I texted Dr. Guy and I said, “Hey, Dr. Guy. I got a question for you.” I asked, “Can I go
turkey hunting?” He sat there in silence for a minute and he said, “Man, I don't know. I've never been
asked this.” I asked, “Well, can I go?” He asked me, “Tell me why you don't think you can go?” And I
said, “Man, I’m more worried about a tick getting inside my open wounds and you having to amputate
more off. That's what scares me to death!” He told me, “Just make sure that you spray off really good.” I
said, “Okay.”
I went turkey hunting. I went with my buddy and in the back of my mind I was gonna spray off really
good with tick spray and I was gonna sit beside him and watch him kill a turkey. I was completely fine
with that. I went to his house that night, spent the night with him, and as we were sitting in his living
room, he walks in and he says, “Hey, Jason. I think I got a way figured out that you can shoot a gun. I
was like, “Sam, I can't do that. I don't have hands. I don't have prosthetics.” He laid this shotgun in my
lap, he took the two screws out of the butt-end of the shot gun and he strapped that gun to my
shoulder. He put a tripod on the front of the gun with a radiator hose to hold the end of the barrel up
and he put a string from the trigger to my mouth. While we were sitting in his living room, I was dry firing
this gun and I told him, “I think I can shoot.” So, the next day we went to the woods and we went turkey
hunting. I think I missed the first couple of birds that I saw, but that day I killed my first turkey after
losing both my arms. It was just a little bit over a month after my accident.
Lisa McKinley 29:08
Wow! That is cool that he made that gun for you; to rig it up like that! I need him to make me some kind
of blind gun. [laughter] I could go shoot turkeys and – well, I don’t like turkey, maybe deer. Do you think
he could make me a deer shooting thing?
Jason Koger 29:31
Probably so. [laughter] Where do you live now? What state are you in?
Lisa McKinley 29:32
I'm in Bowling Green, Ky. I'm just down the road or up the road, whatever you call it, but that's really
cool! Have you ever had any really embarrassing moments?
Jason Koger 29:50
I absolutely have had some embarrassing moments, yes. Actually, everybody's favorite story is when I
first got home. The first time we went to Owensboro as a family was Hobby Lobby and it was me, my
wife, Jenny, my oldest daughter, Billie and Campbell, my middle child now. Campbell was three months
old and Billie was 21 months old. We went to Hobby Lobby and I told Jenny, “You go on shopping,”
because I can't stand shopping. I said, “Me and Billie will go walk around.” So, Billie and I were
probably three or four rows over from where Jenny was and I was carrying Billie. No prosthetics. She
got to kicking, so I set her down on the ground and she went running away from me. I yelled at her,
“Billie Grace, get back over here!” She turned around and was running back towards me with her arms
wide open, fixing to jump in my arms and give me this big hug. I tell people it was almost like a movie:
everything was slow motion. It was the best feeling in the world for a father.
Well, she got to me and instead of jumping in my arms she grabbed me by my pants and she pulled my
pants down to my ankles! So, here I am standing in the middle of Hobby Lobby with my pants down to
my ankles and I'm trying to talk her into pulling my pants up, but she won't. I had to wobble four rows
over to try to find my wife with my pants down to my ankles and you can't walk very fast when you got
pants down to your ankles. I finally found my wife about four rows over and she was like, “Oh my gosh!
This is so embarrassing!” I was like, “Yeah, I just lost my pants in the middle of Hobby Lobby.” So, she
ran over to me and pulled my pants up. I said, “It could have been worse.” She asked, “How could it be
worse? You just lost your pants in the middle of Hobby Lobby!” I told her, “Well, at least my underwear
stayed up!” It could have been really ugly!
Lisa McKinley 31:44
[laughter] That is so true! I assume you weren't at the point where you were wearing a belt and
fastening a belt to prevent that kind of thing at the time.
Jason Koger 31:55
No, they were jogging pants. That's about the best thing I could wear at the time.
Lisa McKinley 31:59
Oh, my! You have to you have that attitude and laugh at yourself. I am sure it was mortifying at the time
[chuckles], but looking back on it, it’s kind of funny.
Jason Koger 32:12
Absolutely, it’s funny! [chuckle]
Lisa McKinley 32:14
Now, eventually you did get prosthetics. Right?
Jason Koger 32:20
I did. I went to my prosthetist when I was able to go talk to him. I had done some research and found
out about some bionic hands and I wanted to look further into the bionic stuff. So, I went and saw a
prosthetist and we sat down and I told him, “I really would like to get these i-Limb hands.” And he told
me, “Man, I don't know if you'll ever be able to get these i-Limb hands because they are so expensive
and insurance will say no. It's just what's going to happen.” I said, “Well, let's at least try.” So, we tried
to get me approved for these bionic hands, but I was turned down, I was rejected, but I kept on fighting
for it. Finally, I got accepted to get these bionic hands. I became the first person in the world as a
bilateral arm amputee to be fitted with multi-articulating bionic hands, which came out in 2008. So, I
was the first in the world with them. Now I'm on my fifth-generation hands, so I am also the first person
in the world five times to have the newest bionic hands that have ever hit the market.
Lisa McKinley 33:41
Wow! Do you kind of work hand-in-hand with the company now? Are you an ambassador for them?
Jason Koger 33:49
I do. I'm an ambassador for them. It used to be called Touch Bionic back in 2008-2009. Then, the
company got bought out by a bigger company called Ossur. Ossur is based in Iceland with engineers in
Scotland. Ossur, they have a US headquarters in California. They also have some people that work in
Ohio. I get to travel around the world now and show people how prosthetics work. I get to go to all the
amputee shows, I get to work with the engineers, I get to work with other amputees. It's really opened
up a lot of doors for me to do exactly what I told you I wanted to do, which was be a source of
information for brand-new amputees, and it has really shared my story in the amputee community
bigger than I would have ever imagined. I've met people all over the world with multiple amputations –
up to four amputations or even down to just a few fingers – and I am more than willing and able and
excited to work with every single amputee I've ever had an opportunity to work with and try to get
insurance companies to understand that the prosthetics that are out there will never replace your real
hand, but it comes really close to it. No matter the price, everybody deserves to get something that
gives their life back. Whether it's hooks, hands or whatever it is, a person deserves to get the best thing
to make their life as close to normal as they can.
Lisa McKinley 35:43
If you don't mind, kind of describe your hands, because this will be just audio. So, describe how they
operate and function.
Jason Koger 35:56
Sure. I have two different sets of hands. I have the body-powered ones that people have seen since
Civil War days: just hooks. Basically, rubber bands keep them closed and there’s a cable that opens
and closes them and the cables go around my shoulders. So, when I move my left shoulder forward all
I am doing is pulling a cable for my right hook to open. So, it's opposite shoulder to hand. Those are
body-powered. Then, the mild-electrics have wrist joints and multi-articulating fingers. That means there
are six different motors in each hand. I cannot just hold one finger up or 2 fingers or whatever. I can
hold fingers extended out. But the way it works is I have sensors that lay on my forearm muscles and
when I imagine and feel like I am raising my wrists in the air, the forearm muscles I still have contract
for those movements and the sensors trigger the hands to open; when I lower my wrists the sensors
trigger the hands to close. So, they open and close.
There are many other movements the bionic hands can make, also. When I co-contract the muscles,
the sensors tell the hands that I want them to rotate: when I imagine raising my wrists while co-
contracting, the hands rotate up; when I imagine lowering my wrists while co-contracting, the hands
rotate down. They will keep rotating 360 degrees until I relax the muscles. Then, I co-contract to get
back into open and close mode. The hands also have an Apple app, so they know where they are in
space. So, when I imagine and feel like I am holding my hands open, the hands open wide and hold
open. The fingers flick and I can trigger the hands to move forward, backwards, left or right to go into
certain grips that I can set up on the app. Using the app, I can program the hands for pinching, I can
program them to do most any of those things are I want them to do. It sounds complicated, but it's
really not once they are programmed and used.
Lisa McKinley 37:48
Jason, do you have any last words of wisdom for any of our listeners today before we go?
Jason Koger 38:00
Yes. I’ve just written a book. If anybody wants to get on my website it’s just jasonkoger.com. I'm selling
my book there. I wrote this book to share a story of inspiration and a story of overcoming, showing that
my faith and my attitude are truly what got me through what I've been through. The name of the book is
Handed a Greater Purpose. I thought of that title because no matter the situation, no matter what we're
going through, we all have to understand that God has a greater purpose for each and every one of us.
If you have that faith and you know that God has a bigger plan for you, then somehow some way life
just keeps going on and keeps moving forward. I want people to know that sometimes when you go
through a bad situation that you will be handed a greater purpose. That’s exactly why I named my book
Handed a Greater Purpose.
Lisa McKinley 39:00
That is such a great title! So appropriately titled. Jason, I want to thank you again for coming on the
program, sitting down with us, sharing your story. I know it will be meaningful and impact a lot of lives.
So, thank you!
Jason Koger 39:22
I would love for people to follow me on Instagram or Facebook or any social media and reach out to me
on my website. I love helping people and hearing people's stories. I would absolutely love anybody to
contact me and share a little bit about their life or maybe what my life has meant to them.
Lisa McKinley 39:43
Absolutely. And where can they find you again?
Jason Koger 39:47
It’s jasonkoger.com; jasonkoger.com. I also have a public page on Facebook, I'm on Instagram, I'm on
TikTok, I'm on Snapchat. I'm on all the stuff.
Lisa McKinley 40:06
All the things. You have teenagers now! They're making you get on all those things. Right?
Jason Koger
Exactly right.
Lisa McKinley
Awesome! Thank you, Jason. It's been a pleasure.
Jason Koger 40:16
Absolutely. Thank you for having me on.
Kimberly Parsley 40:24
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Thanks to Steve Moore for helping us out with transcripts. Thanks to Chris Ankin for our theme music.
Demand and Disrupt is a publication of the Advocato Press with generous support from the Center for
Accessible Living located in Louisville, Kentucky. You can find links to buy the book A Celebration of
Family: Stories of Parents with Disabilities in our show notes. Thanks, everyone!
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