Kevin Carroll is an Irish
prosthetist
A Prosthetist and Orthotist, as defined by The World Health Organization, is a healthcare professional with overall responsibly of Prosthetics & Orthotics treatment, who can supervise and mentor the practice of other personnel. They are clinicians ...
, researcher, educator, and author.
He is the Vice-President of Prosthetics for
Hanger Clinic, a
prosthetics
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
and
orthotics
Orthotics ( el, Ορθός, translit=ortho, lit=to straighten, to align) is a medical specialty that focuses on the design and application of orthoses, or braces. An is "an externally applied device used to influence the structural and functio ...
provider in the United States.
Kevin travels around the United States and the world providing care for patients with unique or challenging cases and for disabled athletes.
He also presents scientific symposiums and educational programs.
Carroll is one of the most renowned prosthetists in the world. He is an American Board Certified Prosthetist and has been named a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists. He is a member of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO), the British Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics (BAPO) and the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers. In 2009 Carroll was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the
United States Sports Academy
The United States Sports Academy is a private university focused on sports and located in Daphne, Alabama. It offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs as well as certificate programs. Founded in 1972, the academy has provided its ...
because of his contributions to the advancement of prosthetics and his dedication to numerous disabled and
Paralympic
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...
athletes.
Winter the dolphin
In 2005, a baby
dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
(later named
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...
) became entangled in the ropes of a crab trap. The rope cut off the supply of blood to her tail which resulted in her tail being amputated.
It was thought that Winter would learn to swim without a tail, but this forced her to swim with a "side to side" motion instead of the normal "up and down" motion. Winter's veterinarians feared that this unusual movement would damage her spine. Kevin Carroll, who had previously designed prosthetics for other animals (including dogs, an ostrich and a duck), volunteered to help after hearing about Winter on
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
and became Winter's prosthetist in 2005.
Kevin and a team of experts, including Hanger clinician Dan Strzempka, began working on creating a prosthetic tail for Winter. While Carroll thought that it would be a simple task, the project took over a year and a half before Winter began wearing the tail. The successful creation of an artificial tail fluke is the first time a full prosthetic tail has been created for a dolphin.
Carroll and Strzempka worked with a chemical engineer to develop WintersGel, a new material that would disperse pressure evenly onto the dolphin's skin. Now the material is used for human amputees including
Brian Kolfage
Brian Kolfage is an American political activist, former United States Air Force airman, and convicted fraudster. He co-founded We Build the Wall, a private organization that purportedly aimed to construct a privately funded barrier on the Mexi ...
and
Megan McKeon.
2009 book
In 2009 Winter's story was told by
Craig Hatkoff
Craig M. Hatkoff (born March 19, 1954) is an American real estate investor from New York City. Along with his now ex-wife Jane Rosenthal, and Robert De Niro, he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Institute in 2002. The th ...
and his daughters Juliana and Isabella Hatkoff, the No. 1
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
best-selling children's authors in ''Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again''. The book was published by Turtle Pond Publications and
Scholastic. The book was co-released with a
Nintendo DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
game.
2011 film
In 2011,
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...
's story hit the big screen when American film director
Charles Martin Smith
Charles Martin Smith (born October 30, 1953) is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television, based in British Columbia. He is known for his roles in ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), '' Never Cry Wo ...
directed the film ''
Dolphin Tale
''Dolphin Tale'' is a 2011 American 3D family drama film directed by Charles Martin Smith, from a screenplay by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi and a book of the same name. It stars Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, ...
''. Carroll and Strzempka served as consultants for the movie and are featured at the end credits along with Megan McKeon and others who have benefited from Winter. For reasons unknown concerning the historical liberties, Carroll and Strzempka's roles were merged into one character for the film, Dr. Cameron McCarthy who is played by actor
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
. On the
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
+ DVD +
UltraViolet
Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...
Digital Copy version of the movie, Carroll and Strzempka are featured in Winter's Inspiration, the featurette that shares Winter's true story.
Warren Macdonald
In 1997
Warren Macdonald
Warren Macdonald (born 1965 ) is an Australian environmentalist, explorer, mountain climber, motivational speaker, and writer.
Macdonald was born in Melbourne. In April 1997 he was climbing Mount Bowen on Hinchinbrook Island when a giant boulder ...
, an Australian mountain climber, was climbing through a remote mountainside in Australia when a one-ton boulder fell onto his legs trapping him for 45 hours. This trauma resulted in both of his legs being amputated mid-thigh. After his rehabilitation, he returned to climbing using speciality climbing prostheses developed by Kevin Carroll and
Hanger clinician Chad Simpson. In 2003 Macdonald climbed to the top of
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...
in Tanzania, making him the first bilateral transfemoral amputee to accomplish such a feat.
Publications
Books
*Carroll, K., & Edelstein, J. (2006). ''Prosthetics and Patient Management: A Comprehensive Clinical Approach''. Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Inc.. 284 pp.
Research
*Carroll, K. (2006). Lower Extremity Socket Design and Suspension. ''Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America'', 17(1), 31–48.
*Carroll, K., & Richardson, R. (2009). Improving Outcomes for Bilateral Transfemoral Amputees: A Graduated Approach to Prosthetic Success. ''The Academy Today'', 5(2), 2–5.
References
External links
Kevin Carroll's Official Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Kevin
Irish writers
Living people
Prosthetics
Year of birth missing (living people)