Chicago Heights Man Receives Nearly $30K For 'Hero Arm'

CHICAGO HEIGHT, IL — The community is helping a 24-year-old get a new arm. Hector Rubio of Chicago Heights received nearly $30,000 in less than 24 hours to purchase a prosthetic arm after an accident led to an amputation.

On Aug. 8, 2020, Rubio was in an all-terrain vehicle accident in Indiana that changed his life forever. The ATV tipped over, and his arm was smashed in two different spots. After going to the hospital with severe injuries, and after two surgeries attempting to save his arm, doctors advised Rubio to undergo amputation surgery.

"Now I am not able to do the things I had been able to do for myself, it has been a drastic change for me and I have yet to get used to many things," Rubio said in his GoFundMe description.

Seven months later, Rubio is ready for a prosthetic arm, and to get back to work. But he is unable to do either.

"I was left with no working options and denied by disability. As many of you may or may not know, the prosthetic arms are very pricey," Rubio said. "It caught my family and I by a very big surprise and that is why we are asking for your help."

The Hero Arm — a 3D-printed multi-grip bionic arm for people with below elbow upper-limb differences, aged eight and above — is what Rubio is hoping to get.

"It's a futuristic look. It's a unique thing, and if I'm going to have something other than my arm, I want it to look [like] something ... unique. Something futuristic. That's what the hero arm provides."

In less than 24 hours, Rubio's GoFundMe page raised $27,650, as of 1:04 p.m. Thursday. It wasn't something Rubio anticipated happening so quickly.

"I’m extremely proud and shocked by how the community has backed me up. I have a lot of family and friends, but this is nowhere close to where I expected," Rubio told Patch. "It means the world to me that they helped me reach my dream."

To donate to Rubio's fund, visit his GoFundMe page, here.