Robert’s Journey: From Fishing with One Arm to Heavy Lifting

On July 4, 2025, Jacksonville business owner and avid outdoorsman, Robert, had been looking forward to his upcoming trip to Alaska for the salmon run, but little did he know he would soon be discussing whether activities like fishing with one arm would be even possible.

“My neighbor up the street does a big Fourth of July thing every year,” Robert said. “I had a mortar go off in my right hand and it took about eleven inches of my arm. Thank goodness I’m left-handed.” He had been holding something in his left hand, which, according to Robert, saved that hand.

“It was pretty traumatic, really,” he said. “I think more for the people that were there. There were a lot of kids and women and people that are in recovery. It was probably the worst crowd you could have something like this happen in front of.”

What carried him through the traumatic event and the recovery has been his attitude. “You cannot control stuff. Things happen in your life and nothing is going to change it. Nothing is going to grow my arm back. The only thing I have control over is my attitude. Right from the beginning I said, we are not getting depressed. We are making jokes about it. That is much better than going the other way.”

Robert owns a vending machine company with more than 250 machines scattered across Jacksonville. He hauls product, installs compressors, fixes electrical issues, and physically manages the day-to-day operations. After the accident, every part of his workflow had to change.

After Amputation Household Tasks Felt Like a Puzzle

“With our business, I am the guy that fixes everything and keeps things going,” he said. “This has really been a setback having one hand. I get things done, but not as fast as I used to and I cannot do it all like I used to.”

Even simple household tasks can be a puzzle. “Just being able to close a bag of lunch meat, to hold one side while you zip across the top,” he said. “There are so many little things in life like that you do not think about until you only have one hand.”

Still, what hit him hardest was losing the part of his life he cared about most: being outdoors. Robert and his wife, Christina, hunt whitetail in Georgia, fish offshore in Florida.  “Fishing and hunting are a couple of the main things that we do,” Christina said. “If we go on a trip anywhere, we are going to do one of the two.”

This year was supposed to be special because they had plans to visit Alaska. “He was supposed to go,” Christina said. “He had his ticket purchased. He was leaving the next week to go up there for a couple weeks.”

“Then I blew my arm off,” Robert added with a wry smile. “I was supposed to go. I’m still planning on going.”

A hospital staff member suggested he start with a basic training prosthesis or body-powered prosthetic device, but Robert declined immediately. “They said, just get this base model. As a beginner, just to see if you might like it. I said, no, I am not doing that. I already know that I need something useful.”

His brother-in-law, a technology enthusiast, had already been researching prosthetic options. “My brother-in-law turned me on to you guys,” Robert said. “He said, you need to look at these guys and talk to them. Right from the go, we were like, yeah, these are the people we want to work with for sure.”

What drew Robert to us was not just the look of the Hero PRO but what it could help him do. He needed multiple grip patterns to hold tools, carry product, and work safely. He needed durability for working in the Florida heat, or wet environments like boat decks, tree stands, compressor installs. He needed a prosthesis that was not delicate, not finicky, and not theoretical. He needed an arm he could live, work, hunt, and go fishing with.

Fitting a Bionic Arm With Fishing in Mind

At his fitting appointment, he walked into the clinic carrying two fishing rods. “From the beginning I was like, I need those attachments,” he said. The Hero PRO, with its quick-disconnect wrist, modular design, and Activity Attachment ecosystem, made him feel like he could get back to the life he loved.

“It will be good to have the water resistance of this arm,” Robert said. “That was a big deal for me, especially up in Alaska. We went through a lot to get this, so we are going to keep it in as good shape as we can.”

The arm was fully funded through his insurance, but his clinical team fast-tracked the evaluation and fitting so Robert could receive his Hero PRO before the end of the year, maximizing his insurance benefits.“I was really grateful you guys were able to do this in this time frame,” he said. “We were under the crunch to try to get it done before the end of the year. It is definitely a blessing for us.”

During his fitting, Emily said she hoped more people would see what was possible for amputees who seek care early. “A lot of people think they have to wait a long time after an amputation before they can even start the process,” she said. “But Robert is only five months out and he is already controlling a myoelectric hand and getting a functional socket. More people should know it is not off the table. If you have good healing and good muscle signals, starting early can make a huge difference. It keeps you from forming habits that strain your other arm and it helps you get your life back sooner.” She added that his progress was encouraging. “The fact that he is using this device so early in his recovery is a big deal, and it shows how motivated he is. He is already thinking about work tasks and fishing attachments. That is exactly why we wanted to fast-track this for him.”

Robert talks about his future with clarity. He wants to lift cases of soda again and stock machines with both hands. He wants to work safely, without putting all the strain on his left arm. He wants to hunt whitetail in Georgia and stand in Alaska’s icy rivers with sockeye running at his feet. The Hero PRO can restore function for Robert to do the work that supports his family and the outdoor life he and Christina share. “I blew my arm off this year,” he said, “but I’m still planning on going to Alaska. With this arm, I feel like I actually can.”

Whether your goals are at work, on the water, or in the woods, Hero PRO is built to help you get there. Start with a free consultation with your nearest certified prosthetist today.