SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A local man is on the road to recovery after losing his hand in a hiking accident.
"I've been hiking in San Diego since I was about 14 years old. It's one of my favorite things to do," Stephen Lemos said.
On March 16, Lemos was leading a hiking group in the Jacumba desert.
"After a couple of hours of climbing out there, I went climbing up a particular rock," he said.
Lemos said the boulder dislodged and hit him in the chest, then fell on his arm.
"As I looked over and I was hollering for my friends, I could see it tearing off my left hand," he said.
Lemos was airlifted to the hospital.
He underwent numerous surgeries to reattach the hand but ultimately had to have it amputated.
He began looking into getting a prosthetic hand while in the hospital.
Wednesday, he met with Aadeel Akhtar, who's the founder and CEO of Psyonic, a company that builds prosthetic limbs.
"If you've lost your hand, you can use muscle signals to control it," Akhtar said.
The hand also has touch-feel sensors.
"Because he can actually feel when he touches something, he knows how much pressure to apply and can really interact with people and objects," Akhtar said.
"I'm very impressed with it. It gives me a lot of hope," Lemos said.
Lemos hopes that with the hand, he'll be able to get his life back, even if this version looks a bit different.
"I have a special needs son I am raising, and it means the world to me to continue to function," Lemos said.
Lemos started a GoFundMe account to help pay for surgeries and the prosthetic hand. Visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/7nbmc-give-steve-a-helping-hand for donation information.
