HOUSTON – Inside a tiny, cramped, tattered trailer home in Porter, Texas, Jerry Pizzoferrato swallows down a handful of pain pills and prepares to do something he hates more than anything, climbing into a wheelchair where he will sit trapped for the rest of the day.
“I just can’t stand being stuck inside these four walls,” Jerry said.
You see, Jerry hasn’t been able to walk, hasn’t even been able to stand for two years now, all because he could not afford to get a prosthetic leg to replace the leg he had amputated due to diabetes.
“I can’t do the things I used to do. I want to walk, to get up and play with my children and grandchildren and I just can’t,” Jerry said.
To understand Jerry’s heartbreak, you have to realize that for 28 years, Jerry served as a volunteer firefighter, saving lives and fighting fires in several different communities, including Magnolia.
But now it is Jerry who needs help.
This, after four different insurance companies promised to cover the cost of getting Jerry a new leg and all four took his money and provided nothing.
That’s when Jerry’s family contacted Spencer Solves It.
And immediately, we begin by bringing Jerry to the specialists at Unlimited Prosthetics in Houston.
Now trained technicians measure Jerry and begin designing a custom fit artificial leg for him that will allow Jerry to be able to walk normally again.
They take castings, they build molds, they order the parts needed to construct this new titanium leg.
And four weeks later it is done.
Time to present Jerry with his brand new $9000.00 prosthetic leg.
Of course, the people at Unlimited Prosthetics are providing all of this to Jerry absolutely free.
“Our goal, our payoff will come when Jerry is able to walk back into our offices on his own two legs, one natural, one mechanical. That will be our reward, to see him walking again,” said Erika Sanchez, the owner of Unlimited Prosthetics.
Now comes the moment of truth.
With his brand new-leg in place, Jerry struggles to stand up for the first time in two long years.
He is trembling and crying, but he is standing on his own and he will be walking normally in a few weeks when his muscles are more fully developed.
“You have given my husband his life back,” Peggy Pizzoferrato said.
“Thank you so much, thank you, you are making things so much easier for me. I have Channel 2 to thank for all of this and I really appreciate it,” Jerry said.
If you need help with a problem you can’t possibly solve by yourself, contact Spencer Solves It at 713-223-TIPS (8477) or email us at solvesit@click2houston.com.