He fought to get his ‘bionic arm.’ Suddenly, it disappeared from his truck

Christopher Ruden battled his insurance company for about a year to get a prosthetic arm. He had lived 27 years without one.

Then, this past weekend, it was stolen from his truck in Boynton Beach.

Ruden, who lives in Coconut Creek, had left the prosthetic in the front-row seat of his 2014 Chevy Silverado from where it was snatched sometime after Friday night.

A few hours later, Ruden got good news. Police had located the limb.

Ruden and his prosthetic were reunited on Sunday.

Ruden is a power lifter and motivational speaker. He was born with a congenital birth defect, leaving him with only two fingers on his left hand and a shorter left arm.

About eight years ago Ruden was also diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes — the foundation for the social platform he’s built to inspire disabled people to reach full potential.

According to a Boynton Beach police report, Ruden’s “bionic arm” was found in a grassy area in his girlfriend’s apartment complex near the 1700 block of Stonehaven Drive.

Ruden was working on a motivational video Sunday afternoon when he realized the arm had been taken from his truck, police said.

He called police around 4 p.m. and reported it stolen. Four hours later, investigators found the arm near where it disappeared.

After being processed for fingerprints by crime scene detectives, Ruden was reunited with the carbon fiber arm at the police station.

Police say Ruden had spent a year battling his insurance company for the left Touch Bionics iLimb Ultra, which is valued at about $150,000.

Ruden recently made headlines after breaking world records for powerlifting.

A video of him trying on hi prosthetic arm for the first time last year was viewed more than two million times.

This story was originally published October 29, 2018 at 11:40 AM.