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Buffalo prosthetic company helping amputees to walk with confidence

Posted at 8:53 PM, May 03, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-04 18:18:53-04

When Brandon Burke was only 16, he was diagnosed with bone cancer. Doctors were forced to amputate his left leg.

After breaking his prosthetics a couple of times, e began looking for something that would allow him to live the active life that he wanted to live, so that fueled Brandon's mission and his co-founder Emily Lutyens. 

"Can we design innovative patented technologies that provide a great level of function and mobility to keep up with somebody like Brandon?" Lutyens said.

Burke, Lutyens, and Dr. Jan Andrysek of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, created LegWorks and designed and manufactured a high functioning, waterproof prosthetic knee for active amputees four years ago.

LegWorks won the $10,000 prize at the Bright Buffalo Niagara Entrepreneur Expo on Wednesday.

The company, recently moved its headquarters from California to Buffalo, committing to invest nearly $200,000 in our community and create five jobs.

The company patented the All-Terrain Knee and Brandon has relied on it for five years.

"You put weight on the toe and then you flex your hip and  that's how it swings through, which is actually how your leg works naturally," Lutyens said.

LegWorks has fitted more than 1,000 patients in 30 countries. 

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