The Belle Jambe Project

Why Are Amputees Forced To Choose

Between Comfort and Aesthetics? Why Is Realism in Prosthetic Limbs not available to the Average Amputee?

My name is Dani Soncasie. I've been a RBKA (right below the knee amputee) for 30 years. I was born with multiple disabilities and grew up in Shriners, and still live my life in between surgeries.

My great frustration has been that I have never seen myself with two matching legs. And after a lifetime of watching realistic limbs on the movie screen, I started asking questions. Years and years of prosthetists telling me no, brushing me off, LAUGHING at my "entitlement" to want something looks like me, I was fortunate enough to meet the amazing makeup designer/artist from films like The Passion of the Christ, XMen and MCU movies, Apocalypto, Terminator: Genesys, and countless others. His name is Brian Sipe and HE showed me how easy and cost effective it would be to mold out existing limbs and mirror them to make a prosthetic limb that MATCHES us! AND how to custom mold liner and sockets exactly down to the smallest wrinkle. 

For now, the video containing the first steps of this project is available on Comics and Cosmetics. Brian and I are fully committed to developing a full length documentary.

The documentary is just a vehicle. The hope of the Belle Jambe Project is to ignite interest and educate. Amputees have been historically told by society and prosthetics industry to accept what is available and be grateful. The Belle Jambe Project says, "Not good enough". These are not "durable medical appliances". They are not just "mobility" aides. These are LIVES. Human lives. And every single human deserves the choice on how they live their life. They also deserve the ability to move under their own agency in public free from pain, discomfort, and humiliation. Amputees deserve the ability to look in a mirror and see themselves. No one deserves to see their reflection as an incomplete puzzle.

There have been great strides in the technology of prosthetics over the last 100 

years. But, it isn't near enough. For decades the "art" of prosthetics have been looked at as anything but an artform. Too many approach building a prosthetic limb like a mechanic. The Belle Jambe Project poses the challenge that we can do BETTER. If we can invest billions into the film industry to make our movie experience more immersive, why is the same effort and artistry absent from the one place it would matter most and make the biggest impact?

This project hopes to change this. Not just for me, but for every amputee everywhere.

BUT, we need your help!! In order to move forward we need funding. Right now we're invisible to the rest of the world until we can finish our first prototype. If you can help by donating, that would help more than you realize! If you can't donate, I completely understand, but please, SHARE so that it can reach as many people as possible!

Psychological and Psychosocial studies are just NOW starting to be conducted, establishing a serious correlation  between amputee self-image/Mental Health  and  the condition/appearance of their prosthetic. ESPECIALLY in women.

The suicide ideology/commitment rate is climbing among amputees, specifically women due to this and lack of comfort, AND the creation of secondary conditions.

THIS IS COSTING LIVES! Amputees deserve a choice in the appearance of their prosthetic. NOT a choice between comfort OR appearance. That's cruelty. That’s discrimination. And it ends NOW.