“Santa Claus isn’t known for having a prosthetic arm,” says Mike Tindall. So things can get a little awkward when Tindall’s portraying St. Nick at a mall, hotel, corporate event, or civic celebration, and a darling tyke innocently asks why Santa’s hand is glowing and making mechanical sounds.
“What I tell them is that I’m doing a test on Iron Man’s new suit,” says Tindall, who lost his lower left arm in 1995. “I tell them Iron Man is looking for feedback on how well it works. And the light on the hand—that’s a tracking device, so Mrs. Claus can always tell where I’m at.”
These fictions are excusable in service of the season’s larger fiction, ie that the jolly toymaker at the North Pole really exists. And they allow Tindall to share the gifts that matter most to kids around holiday time—kind attention, personal warmth, and the feeling that they’re just a little bit special.
He’s being doing that in Santa garb for about 15 years, roughly since the time his beard began to turn white. He debuted at a holiday party for his wife’s employer, a neurology clinic called Semmes Murphey. “Her boss asked me if I would entertain as Santa Claus, and I jokingly said: ‘If you pay for half the suit, I’ll be your Santa for free,'” Tindall recalls. The boss ponied up, and Tindall stepped into the role and never looked back. He now plays the part dozens of times a year, mostly (but not exclusively) in and around his home in metropolitan Memphis.
When he started out, Tindall wore a body-powered prosthesis under his Santa robe, with a white glove over the hand, and kids were never the wiser. Then he switched to a Touch Bionics hand. “It had that little blue light on it, and that would shine right through my glove,” he explains. “Kids started to notice it blinking on and off, and they’d ask about it. So off the top of my head one day, I said, ‘Well that’s my Santa Tracker. That’s how Mrs. Claus keeps tabs on where I am and makes sure I don’t get lost.'”
This year he switched to a Hero Arm by Open Bionics.
“I started following them when they got started years ago, because of what they were doing for kids,” Tindall says. “They originally started out working exclusively for children who’d had amputations or were born without a limb. They had a great story; they were really helping people. And the other thing I noticed is that it’s very simple to use. Don’t get me wrong, you still have to learn how to operate it. But it’s at a level where kids can understand it. Some of the other devices I’ve used would be real hard for a kid to learn and adjust to. They were hard for me to adjust to.”
Perhaps the toughest thing about migrating to the Hero Arm was getting the VA to pay for it. When Tindall, a Navy veteran, first approached his local VA clinic to inquire about the device, he was told Open Bionics wasn’t an approved vendor. “I’ve had some issues over the years with the VA approving my prosthetics for payment, so I have learned how to push the buttons,” he laughs. “When I call my VA now, they move a little faster.” It required a trip to a VA regional facility in Austin, Texas, but Tindall got fitted for the device earlier this year, becoming one of the first—maybe even the first—amputees to get a Hero Arm through the VA.
“I got the red one because it matches the suit,” he says. “The only thing I don’t have is the Iron Man logo on it. Disney only allows them to use the logo for kids under 14. I’m a little older than 14.”
Tindall, who lost his limb in a woodworking accident, usually wears a body-powered hook prosthesis for his daily routine. “The hook works best for anything that requires any kind of dexterity,” he says. “I went back to work as an airplane mechanic after this happened. I still work on my own cars. I still do woodworking. I’m a big fisherman. I play golf, using the golf attachments.”
Although he’s retired, Tindall isn’t planning to stop handing out smiles and Ho-Ho-Hos any time soon.
“Kids are easier to deal with than adults when it comes to amputation,” he says. “They’re not scared to ask the questions. When you get to be my age, you have to keep your mind busy. This new technology is totally fascinating. It still has some little quirks to work out, but this one works better for me than my previous hands. Things are moving in the right direction.”
