Received by Soldiers' Angels via email, March 3rd:

Hi, Patti,
As you may or may not know, my son has submitted a proposal, through the Biomedical Engineering program at UC Irvine, to design and develop an advanced prosthetic hand. The inspiration for the project came from our experience with Joey Bozik and our observation that the prosthetic hands our wounded soldiers receive are not good enough (to say the least). The proposal is a success at UCI and is moving ahead thanks to the leadership of my son's mentor, Prof. William Tang.

We have been blessed to get to know Alice in the process, and we have asked her to help us establish a relationship with the staff and soldiers at Walter Reed so that they may participate in the project at a level that works for them. In addition, we have established contacts at the three major manufacturers of artificial limbs -- Otto Bock, Motion Control, and Alatheia Prosthetics -- so that one or more of them may help in the actual development of the advanced hand.

Like anything else, the project will be more successful and the prosthetic hands will be better if we can attract funding to the project. For example, we want to put tactile sensors in the fingertips of the hands so that amputees can actually feel things. We have been told that can be done, but will be too expensive. It always seems to come down to money, doesn't it? While we're sending $ billions to the Far East for tsunami relief, our soldiers are not getting better prosthetic hands to help them put their lives back together.

Why do I write this to you, Patti? Because I appreciate the work you do, and I want to invite Soldiers Angels (I've been authorized to do so by Prof. Tang) to participate in the project to help raise awareness.

Thanks, and God bless you,
Tom Langan

Be sure to check out this project at http://advancedhand.blogspot.com