‘Been working wonders’: Man asking for help after losing prosthetic arm, leg when boat capsized

By CNN Newsource

Published October 17, 2024 9:40 AM

By Lisa Robinson

HAVRE DE GRACE, Maryland (WBAL) — An Aberdeen man was boating recently when he ended up in the water and had to dump the prosthetics to survive.

Now, Tom Zdon is looking for help to get them back. Zdon and his neighbor were in this boat crabbing on Sunday.

“We slowed down at a putt speed,” Zdon said. “I wanted to shift to my left side so I could have more control, could throttle it better, and I did. The boat shifted left, and the person in front of me had shifted, too. Tilted it over — capsized.”

Once in the water that was up to his neck, Zdon used his leg and arm to kick and float.

“With the arm on, everything went dead,” Zdon said. “It was like a 20-pound weight on me, and it was really pulling me down. I did that for five to 15 seconds — time goes by so quick when you’re panicking.”

So, he made the agonizing decision to unclip his arm and let it float to the bottom of the water.

“I reached down to feel my leg — it already disconnected, also,” Zdon said.

Zdon’s prosthetic arm and leg give him mobility. He’s self-sufficient, drives, cuts his grass, cooks, and cleans. He’s very active.

The arm is very high-tech.

“It’s a Myoelectric arm — it all works off brain thought. It’s been working wonders,” Zdon said. “It’s on demand. If I think about moving my hand or picking something up, it just reaches out and picks it up for you.”

Zdon hopes someone fishing might find the prosthetics. He put a message on Facebook, and people have already stepped up to help.

“I have a lot of divers coming out in the next couple of days to try to do a sonar side scan,” Zdon said.

He’s working with the fire department, the Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland State Police, and the Coast Guard. If they find his artificial limbs, they can be rehabbed.

The companies who manufactured Zdon’s artificial limbs said they are 100% in Zdon’s corner if the limbs are not recovered.

“We’re going to find a way to do this — I think between donations, we can rally and find the manufacturers. We’ll be able to get Tom up and walking again, and using his arm and getting his life back,” said Jonas Seeberg with Real Life Prosthetics.

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