In 2019, Matt Millhouse and Sean Laukhuff decided to vent some frustrations while learning how to box. The struggles in the ring quickly led to thinking about those who were struggling outside the ring, which led them to arrange a charity boxing match with proceeds going to Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development. Millhouse’s son Parker, now 9, had received therapy treatments there.
“My son Parker was born without his right leg,” says Millhouse, 46. “His stump goes to above his knee. He had an operation when he was 1-year old. He had a partial foot growing on his stump that needed to be amputated. He had his first prosthetic around the age of 2.”
Inspired by the thought of helping more children in need of prosthetics, Millhouse and Laukhuff used some of the proceeds to start their own charity organization. In April 2021, Iron Leg, a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to provide prosthetics, therapy and support for children and their families in need, was born.
Millhouse says he understands the frustrations that many parents whose children need prosthetics might feel when dealing with insurance companies. The process isn’t easy, Millhouse says, especially for children since insurance companies are more likely to approve advanced prosthetics for adults who won’t be outgrowing them. Some prosthetic limbs, Millhouse says, can cost as much as $100,000.
“Most standard insurance companies really just want to give the basics. For example, if I want to get a knife blade for my son to run, that’s out-of-pocket,” says Millhouse, describing a prosthetic type. “That’s where we want to come in and help and say your kid should be running at 9 or 10 years old, not having to walk.”
Millhouse, of New Danville, came up with a few names, and Parker chose Iron Leg.
“I told Sean from the beginning ‘this is going to be big,’ ” Millhouse says. “Like, do you realize how many people we are going to help?”
For Laukhuff, of Elizabethtown, the idea of starting a nonprofit was a dream come true.
Laukhuff’s uncle, Ken Laukhuff, was the president of the Teamster Local 771 — a union representing truck drivers — and, in 1986, inspired by a request from a mother with a terminally ill child, organized the Make-A-Wish Mother’s Day truck convoy.
“I was 8 years old at the time and ever since then I thought I’d love to do something someday to make a difference for somebody,” Laukhuff says. “And it’s all coming true.”
Making a difference
After Laukhuff and Millhouse put together a few successful smaller fundraisers such as sub sales and contributed some of their own money, Laukhuff says, Iron Leg raised enough to organize a larger golf outing and silent auction.
But, Millhouse says, Iron Leg needed a face to put to the organization. So he started searching online to find local families with children in need of prosthetics. He found a news story online from 2019 about Mindy Kolar and her son Shawn regarding how their insurance company denied their request for a prosthetic that would allow Shawn, who was born without a left hand, full mobility.
Shawn, 11, is a fifth grader at Shrewsbury Elementary in southern York County who has played the violin for three years.
Shawn Kolar, 11, was born without a left hand. Iron Leg is helping him get a new, advanced prosthetic.
“It’s frustrating when it comes to the bullying, and I think it’s frustrating for them to not be able to do a lot of things that their friends can do,” Mindy Kolar says. “I don’t think a lot of us realize that until you’ve been around a child that’s going through that.”
In fall of 2019 and spring of 2020, Mindy Kolar set a GoFundMe page and organized fundraisers for costs of a Hero Arm — a bionic prosthetic — that insurance wouldn’t fully cover. In 2020, Shawn was fitted for the prosthetic. But already he was starting to outgrow it and would soon need a new one, putting the family in the same situation.
Through a golf outing fundraiser Sept. 11, 2021, Iron Leg was able to raise $38,000. It was enough to get Shawn a 3D-printed TrueLimb bionic hand from Unlimited Tomorrow, a company specializing in affordable, lightweight, intuitive prosthetics. In fact, there was enough funding to help him until he’s 18 and to set aside for future recipients.
“We will stick with him the whole way through until he’s 18 years old,” Laukhuff says. “That’s our promise.”
The prosthetic will allow Shawn to have the mobility to play the violin and perform tasks many people take for granted like tying shoelaces.
“Shawn is really excited,” Kolar says. “(Iron Leg) put everything together, they raised all the money plus more, they took care of everything, they were super nice to Shawn and I.”
Spreading the word
Iron Leg is continuing to organize fundraisers, including an upcoming dance party at The Village.
It’s been less than a year, but Laukhuff says he’s amazed by the progress they’ve made.
“I didn’t even dream about this — a year ago to where we are right now, no way,” Laukhuff says.
Millhouse says he and others of Iron Leg are excited to help as many kids as possible and is already looking to the future. They are discussing plans to potentially partner with a national prosthetic clinic to expand their reach. Millhouse says they also want to look into the possibility of recycling prosthetic parts.
“We want to help as many children as possible. Helping people is what humanity is all about,” Laukhuff says. “That’s what we’re here to do.”
