Update: Haitian Amputee Gets New Leg, New Reason to Dance

HAITI HEALTH -- September 14, 2010 at 1:40 PM EDT

Update: Haitian Amputee Gets New Leg, New Reason to Dance

When the NewsHour team first met George Exantus in Port-au-Prince we were immediately captivated by his story: a prize-winning competitive dancer, Exantus lost his right leg below the knee after he was pinned under rubble for two days in the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Still determined to dance, Exantus learned to move well on a donated prosthetic, but was unable to compete or teach. He dreamed of someday having those parts of his life back.

"The main thing for me is the idea of competing again, make money, teach and compete, and compete at a very high level," he told us in July. "But to dance you need an extremely expensive leg, but that's not available in Haiti. I will probably never get that."

Many NewsHour viewers were also captivated by his story and expressed their desire to help. This month, thanks to the generosity of Freedom Innovations, which donated a new high-tech foot, and the Hanger Sable Foundation, Exantus received the sophisticated prosthetic he thought he would never have.

Watch Exantus take his new leg for a spin:

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