International Child Amputee Network

International Child Amputee Network (I-CAN) a tax exempt, 501(c)(3) organization, is dedicated to promoting education, support, information, and empowerment to traumatic and congenital limb-different children and their families. I-CAN is committed in bringing together these children and their families to enhance the quality of life for the children and young adults based on the concept of mentors helping families, parents helping parents, and kids helping kids.

History

The International Child Amputee Network (I-CAN) was founded in 1995 by Joyce and Bill Baughn. Joyce became a bilateral below-elbow amputee at the age of 6 after crawling under a train. Growing up as an amputee, Joyce Baughn discovered that there were no support groups or organizations that focused on helping the unique challenges of the amputee child, other than the occasional summer camp within the United States of America.

In response to the lack support for the child amputee, Joyce founded I-CAN. The original concept of I-CAN was a mailing list for parents of children with either acquired or congenital limb loss. It provided the opportunity to share experiences with other parents of child amputees, as well as mentors who grew up as amputees. During the same year of the I-CAN's founding in 1995 the Internet was coming of age world wide with the ever increasing numbers of computers being bought for home use. Joyce and Bill Baughn knew how hard it was going to be to spread the word AbOUT I-CAN and seeing the implications that the Internet had to offer, Joyce and Bill decided to use the Internet as the basis to run the organization from. I-CAN became one the first medical support organizations founded solely on the Internet.

International conferences

As the listserv grew, the needs of its members grew as well. In 1996 I-CAN decided that the members of the list should come together and meet each other face to face. The solution was an Annual International Conference where topics such as limb deficiency and prosthetics could be discussed in a group setting. The first of many Annual International Conferences took place in the following summer of 1997 in Birmingham, Alabama.

The first conference was a week-long event. Over time, consensus grew among the I-CAN members that a week-long conference was too long. The members of I-CAN felt the International Conference was an integral part of the organization and should not be abandoned, so the length of the conference was shortened instead. In 2004, I-CAN's Annual International Conference in Chicago became the first of the new four-day annual meetings.

Regional conferences

In 1997, I-CAN started organizing regional conferences. The First One took place in Spain. The regional meetings give the child amputee and their family a chance to see other members' home towns. Also, the Regional Conferences are an opportunity for those families who are unable to attend the International Conference to experience many of its benefits.

See also

• Amputee Coalition of America
• Amputees and War Wounded Association of Sierra Leone
• ASTAR
• International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation
• Parents Helping Parents
• Paul Martin (amputee athlete), award-winning triathlete, and author of two books
• Sarah Reinertsen, American and the first female leg amputee to complete the Ironman Triathlon World Championship
• Terry (film), a biopic of Canadian amputee athlete Terry Fox
• The War Amps of Canada
• World Wheelchair and Amputee Games

External links

• I-CAN's Website
• [http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=197320491748&ref=search&sid=554895536.3231331668..1 I-CAN's Facebook Group]