The sharks at her insurance coverage firm received’t give her a brand new arm.
A Virginia mother-of-three who misplaced most of her left arm in a June 2024 shark assault not too long ago discovered her well being insurer, Cigna Healthcare, refused to pay for a $73,000 myoelectric prosthetic hand she’d been instructed in October she would obtain Christmas Eve.
“I simply felt so deflated, I don’t understand how else to explain it,” Elisabeth Foley, 51, instructed The Submit, reflecting on Cigna’s resolution to disclaim her declare for the high-tech alternative arm; Foley’s explicit plan didn’t cowl superior prosthetics prices.
“This was actually one of many lowest factors of this complete expertise I’ve had,” the previous Starbucks barista mentioned. “It’s insane and so irritating, as a result of I paid for medical insurance my total life, and had the healthiest life, so I barely used it. However I want their assist now, they usually received’t assist me.”
Final June, whereas on a seaside trip to Watersound, FL., Foley mentioned she was chest-deep within the heat waters of the Gulf of Mexico, having enjoyable together with her youngsters, when she noticed the shark.
“It appeared like a torpedo within the water,” Foley recalled. “It was large.”
Foley turned and began swimming for the shore when she was bit “between the legs,” sustaining pelvic harm.
Fearing the shark would go after her youngsters subsequent, Foley mentioned she “punched at it with [her] left hand, as a result of I had learn they’ll go away when you hit them within the nostril.
“It grabbed me by the hand and pulled me underwater. I assumed I used to be going to die. I known as out to God, ‘Please, let me stay.’”
Abruptly, she resurfaced, and checked out her arm.
“It was gone,” she mentioned, including she might see “4 inches of white bone.”
Her husband grabbed her and began pulling her to shore. Fortunate for her, a number of medical professionals, additionally on the seaside on trip, rushed to her support.
“I bear in mind seeing a bunch of individuals in bathing fits, engaged on me,” she mentioned. A tourniquet was positioned on her amputated arm. Additionally they handled her left buttock, which was shredded from the assault.
“In the event that they hadn’t been there, I actually would have bled out, as a result of it took 20 minutes for EMS to get there,” Foley mentioned, noting they needed to navigate a string of boardwalks simply to get to the remoted seaside.
She’s since endured 25 surgical procedures, and nonetheless has a handful to go.
Whereas she already makes use of a make-do, body-powered prosthetic hook, Foley mentioned the myoelectric prosthetic hand — a synthetic limb managed by way of {the electrical} alerts generated by muscle tissues — could be life-changing, and will present her with true independence.
“We don’t take into consideration how typically we use our arms to do duties till you lose one,” mentioned Foley.
A GoFundMe marketing campaign has been launched to assist Foley fund the bionic arm.
In an announcement, a Cigna Healthcare spokesperson mentioned, “Whereas a lot of our well being plans cowl plenty of prosthetic choices, we’re evaluating profit updates to assist develop protection of superior prosthetics for extra individuals.”
