Lacey Henderson running all the way to London

Cancer survivor and amputee Lacey Henderson has a berth on the U.S. Paralympic team for the London Games in 2012. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post )
Often, someone who doesn't know Lacey Henderson will spot the prosthesis replacing much of her right leg and blurt: "What happened to your leg?"

"I had cancer," Henderson routinely answers.

"Oh, that's horrible! I'm so sorry."

Henderson smiles and responds, "I'm not. I get great parking."

Three weeks short of her 22nd birthday, Henderson is on the verge of graduating from the University of Denver, where she majored in Spanish and minored in French and international health. Shortly after finishing four years on the Pioneers' cheerleading squad, she searched for a new athletic challenge this spring and last weekend locked up a berth on the U.S. team for the 2012 Paralympics in London.

The Denver native and graduate of Regis Jesuit High School needed to crack 20 seconds in the 100 meters in an official timing format to qualify for the U.S. team in the women's "T42" Paralympic classification, for athletes with single-leg amputations above the knee. She did so at the state high school track and field meet in Lakewood last weekend.

At Jeffco Stadium on Friday, she ran in the Paralympic exhibition 100 meters, but clipped her "racing" prosthetic with that of the boy in the next lane. After falling, Lacey got up and finished. The next day, she tried again in the Special Olympics 100 at the same meet. Her time was 19.98 seconds — two one-hundredths under what she needed.

It was symbolic. When she gets knocked down, she gets back up.

"I don't really have time for the cancer to come back at this point, so I'm feeling pretty confident," she said at DU's Driscoll Student Center. "It really wouldn't work with my schedule."

"Tired of being sick"

When Lacey was in the fourth grade, the diagnoses were that she had baker's cysts or, simply, "growing pains." Doctors then detected a tumor in her right knee. It was a soft-tissue synovial sarcoma, rare and found mostly in adult men. The survival rate is considered low, but it's so rare there isn't a huge sample. The most famous victim was actor Robert Urich, who died at age 55 in 2002.

Chemotherapy made Lacey violently ill and didn't seem to be working on the sarcoma. As doctors discussed the options with her and her parents — Linda and T.J., a longtime area high school track coach — the major one was amputation.

"I just wanted to be a normal person again and go back to school and I was tired of being sick," Lacey said. "So I said, 'Take it, I don't want it.' "

The amputation came in the spring of 1999. She also had a spot on her lung, but the chemotherapy zapped that.

"May 19 was my 12-year anniversary of being cancer free — and one-legged," she said. "I've been lucky. It has brought so many amazing things into my life, it has given me so many opportunities and so many gifts."

In early 2003, though, she was the target of harassment in her eighth-grade year at Hill Middle School. Some of it was vile or threatening online postings. Some of it was direct taunting about her prosthetic.

"It started off as people pretty sure just being uncomfortable with the leg," she said. "Towards the end, it was girls that just didn't like me."

In biology class, several girls placed remains of dissected frogs in her backpack.

Her parents moved her to Dora Moore School. The next year, she uneasily started at the girls division of Regis Jesuit, but discovered she loved it. "It was like going to camp for four years and you become close to your classmates," she said.

She was a cheerleader at Regis Jesuit, then at DU, doing all the athletic and acrobatic stunts. "I would have to watch for a while to see how people did (new routines)," she said, "and then I'd say, 'OK, this leg of mine might make me take a little bit longer, but I'm going to figure out how to do this if it kills me.' "

Denver attorney Julie Warren was DU's cheerleading coach during Lacey's stint on the squad. She admitted she wondered before Lacey's tryout about her physical capability and safety. "Then, probably within 10 minutes, I knew it was a nonissue," Warren said. "She had been so physically active during her youth and high school years, and prepared herself to do these physically challenging moves, she fit right in. That inspiration happened from Day One of meeting her.

"It was never a question of her not being able to do something the other girls did. That was incredibly impressive and a credit to her mental power and tenacity."

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Man who lost leg embarks on 700-mile bike ride

Written by
Steve Kemme

GREEN TWP. - A year ago, Scott Lane lay in a hospital bed, trying to cope with the loss of the lower half of his left leg in a traffic accident.

Saturday, he embarks on a 700-mile bike ride to raise money to send amputee children to a summer camp in Warren County.

The ride represents the culmination of a journey for Lane that can't be measured in miles.

He conceived of the idea for the 700-mile bike ride before he ever climbed onto an exercise bike at the Clippard YMCA branch in Green Township, as part of his recovery.

"The first day I got on the exercise bike, I could only ride two miles," said Lane, 41, of Green Township. "I thought, 'Is this going to be more than I can handle?' The second day, I rode it five miles. After that, I never had a doubt. I knew I could do it."

Lane and seven others will leave Saturday morning from Camp Joy in Clarksville in Warren County, the site of the camp for youths who have lost limbs, and arrive in Kansas City, Mo., a few days before the start of the Amputee Coalition of America's 2011 National Conference on June 7. The organization is a nonprofit group based in Knoxville, Tenn.

The annual Paddy Rossbach Youth Camp at Camp Joy, has hosted more than 500 children from 42 states and three foreign countries. It includes such activities as swimming, fishing and canoeing, dancing, archery, basketball, wall-climbing and arts and crafts.

Lane and three other bicyclists in his travel group have prosthetic legs. A van carrying their suitcases and other necessities will accompany them.

So far, the group has raised $20,000 in donations and believe they can reach $30,000 by the end of their 700-mile bike ride.

"Hopefully, we'll get a lot of media attention along the way," Lane said. "We're trying to raise awareness of the needs of amputees as well as raise money."

All donations not used for the bike ride's expenses will go to the Paddy Ross Summer Camp. Tax-deductible donations can be made by going to the website, www.amputee-coalition.org/ready. Non-tax-deductible donations can be made to the "I'm Ready Ride" fund at any US Bank branch.

Lane said it's important for children who have lost limbs to meet others facing the same challenges.

"The camp can lighten their burden and give the kids an opportunity to be around other people like them," he said. "Sometimes, it's hard enough just being a kid, much less being a kid with an amputation."

Lane lives with his wife, Nicole, and their son and two daughters from his previous marriage.

On May 6 of last year, Lane was riding his motorcycle when a car driven by a 24-year-old mother of three went left of center on Old Colerain Road in Colerain Township and struck him. Toxicology reports indicated that the woman had illegal drugs in her system.

Although the accident cost him the lower part of his left leg, Lane asked the judge not to send the woman to prison because he didn't want her children to be without their mother. She received five years' probation and was ordered to enter a drug-rehabilitation program.

Lane, a plumber, has been unable to return to work.

"There's no way I can stand on that leg for eight hours or carry a water heater down the steps with a dolly," he said. "Cycling doesn't bother it because it doesn't put that much pressure on it."

Initially, learning to walk with a prosthetic leg was more difficult than Lane thought it would be.

"The first week, I was like a baby trying to walk," he said. "It was a struggle."

Lane has come a long way from those initial steps on his prosthetic leg. The months and months of hard work have paid off.

Camp Joy is a fitting name for the starting point of his 700-mile bike ride to Kansas City.

Young athlete overcomes physical challenges

Posted: 05/17/2011
Last Updated: 17 hours and 4 minutes ago


By: Jason Pugh
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. - It's usually the parent that tries to inspire and motivate their children, but every now and then it's the other way around.

11-year-old Mikey Stolzenberg isn't the best player on his lacrosse team, however everyone would agree, he's the most courageous.

Three years ago, Mikey suffered from a rare immune disease that nearly took his life. During his seven week battle, doctors had to amputate both of his hands, and both feet.

"Now that he's growing every six months, he needs to get new sockets," says Mikey's dad, Keith Stolzenberg. "He doesn't wear arm prosthetics because they are too heavy and frankly the technology is not as good as what he can do with his arms as it is. He writes, he eats, he does just about everything."

This past weekend, the Pockets and Sockets Lacrosse Tournament took place to benefit the Mikey Stolzenberg trust, which will allow Mikey's family to purchase superior prosthetics so he can continue to participate in physical activities.

"His smile, his happiness, he doesn't let anything stop him," says event organizer Jennifer Bolger.

"This is great, I really liked it," says Mikey. "I thanked everybody for coming and I even get to play in my own tournament."

He even gave fans another reason to cheer. He scored a goal.

"I had a couple of misses, wasn't sure what to do, but then I got the hang of it and I scored," Mikey said.

Carol Forshaw's fight to get new right leg

Comments (4)Recommend (8) HER leg was ripped off during a horrific motorcycle accident.

But three years later Carol Forshaw is battling to buy herself a prosthetic replacement after claiming the NHS hasn’t provided her with an appropriate one.

The 35-year-old lost her right leg when she was involved in a car crash in Northumberland.

And she has spent the last three years fighting to get a properly-fitted prosthetic limb that will allow her to get on with her life.

Carol, of Stakeford, Northumberland, says the NHS have been unable to help her and she has decided to try and raise £26,000 to privately buy a leg.

She said: “If somebody told me that I would still be trying to get a prosthetic limb three years after my accident I wouldn’t have believed them.

“It’s just really frustrating. I work and I want to continue working but it’s really difficult when you don’t have a leg that fits properly.

“You have to carry kit around with you all the time and I have had a number of broken bones because the limbs don’t fit correctly.

“Because of the ill fitting leg I fell over. I’m a really determined character and all I want is to live a normal life and get my life back on track. The NHS are really under staffed and it’s difficult for amputees to make any progress.”

Carol’s life was changed forever when she lost control of her bike on a hillside in July 2008.

Careering into the path of an oncoming car, she was unable to get out the way quickly enough to stop the vehicle slicing through her leg, removing all the skin and tissue down to the bone.

She was left fighting for life on the roadside at Cragside, near Rothbury, as the blood drained from her body.

Had it not been for a crew from the Great North Air Ambulance, which flew her to Newcastle General Hospital in time for a life-saving total blood transfusion, she believes she would not have survived.

But now Carol needs to raise £26,000 for a private prosthetic limb. She has already managed to raise £13,000 through savings and fundraisers in hope to get on with her life.

A spokesperson for The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust said: “Miss Forshaw is seen regularly at our Disablement Services Centre. We have not previously been made aware of these concerns and our team would be more than happy to discuss these with her, at her next attendance at the centre.”

Carol said: “When I lost my leg I remember thinking life was all about glamour and looking good. But now all I want is to get from A to B.

“I have already managed to raise half of the money through saving and various fundraisers.

“My colleagues and friends are now trying their best to help me raise the rest of the cash.”

A team of 11 friends of will now cycle from Whitehaven to Sunderland between May 20 and May 22 to help Carol reach her target.

Anyone wishing to help can email Carol at carolforshaw@hotmail.com


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Veterans Compete For Gold At Warrior Games

Nicholas Gibbons, a single amputee with the British Royal Marines team, takes off from the blocks during practice Feb. 21 in Camp Pendleton, Calif., for the inaugural Marine Corps Trials. Fifty athletes were chosen as members of the All-Marine team for the Warrior Games.

Michael Goulding/AP Nicholas Gibbons, a single amputee with the British Royal Marines team, takes off from the blocks during practice Feb. 21 in Camp Pendleton, Calif., for the inaugural Marine Corps Trials. Fifty athletes were chosen as members of the All-Marine team for the Warrior Games.
text size A A A May 17, 2011 The U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs is hosting 220 servicemen and women who are wounded, injured or ill this week for the second annual Warrior Games.

"We have the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force, the Coast Guard and Special Operations Command all participating," says Charlie Huebner, chief of paralympics for the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Huebner says a primary goal of the games is to encourage people with disabilities to be physically active.

Some of the athletes are soldiers you've heard a lot about — injured by a roadside bomb or another combat-related injury. Others are accident victims or suffering from an illness.

Participants compete in seven sports: archery, cycling, basketball, shooting, swimming, track and field, and sitting volleyball. They are chosen proportionately from the various service branches.

In sitting volleyball, the net is low so that it touches the ground. And the players don't use wheelchairs, like in basketball — they sit on the floor and propel themselves however they can.

"Everybody's got different injuries," says Savage Margraf, 24, with the Marine Corps sitting volleyball team. "Some of the guys are double amputees, some are single amputees below the waist.

This is actually a sport where having legs is a disadvantage because they get in the way.

- Savage Margraf, a member of the Marine Corps sitting volleyball team
"This is actually a sport where having legs is a disadvantage because they get in the way," Margraf says. She is one of the few team members who still has both arms and legs.

Margraf suffers from traumatic brain injury (TBI). She says doctors attribute her TBI to two bad falls she took while serving in Iraq. One was from a watch tower on the Syrian border.

"I was helping get a 50-[caliber] barrel down — it's a machine gun," Margraf explains. "We had to change out the barrels because there was a sand storm. As I was coming down the stair, the second stair from the top broke and I fell."

Now Margraf says she has trouble with her vision. She was medically retired from the military in 2008 at 21 years old. Many of those participating in the Warrior Games are young.

Teammate Jese Schag, 21, had his right leg amputated after a motorcycle accident in 2009. He played sitting volleyball in the first Warrior Games last year.

"It's all about speed, and you've got to have good hands," Schag says. "You've got to be able to react — put your hands on the floor and then bring them up to get the ball."

Margraf says the competition is fun, but she's really here for inspiration.

"We have a swimmer who is a double amputee and blind," Margraf says. "How can you not come to this and leave with some sort of motivation and know that there are people that are way worse than you and they are trying?"

The Defense Department and the U.S. Olympic Committee organize the Warrior Games. Opening ceremonies were Monday. The sitting volleyball finals will wrap up the competition Saturday.

A double amputee who scaled summit of Everest

Dibeyendu Ganguly, May 6, 2011, 12.57am ISTTags:Mark Inglis|ICICI Bank Ltd.

Four o'clock in the afternoon on a hot summer's day and I'm to meet Mark Inglis — wine maker, motivational speaker, author, first double amputee to climb Mount Everest — at the Café Coffee Day on Bandra's Carter Road sea face. I arrive early, optimistic of finding a table in the air conditioned interior, but that's not to be. When Mark arrives ten minutes later, with his agent in tow, I'm seated all hot and bothered outside, under a garden umbrella, fanning myself with a menu.

One of the advantages of coming early is that I'm positioned with maximum umbrella coverage, while the two New Zealanders have the sun on their faces. "It's so hot," I say by way of a conversation starter, adding "but an adventurer like you is probably used to it." "I'm more used to the cold actually," says Inglis, with a grin.

For those who don't know the story, Inglis was trapped in a cave for eleven days while attempting to climb Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest peak. He was eventually rescued, but both his legs were so badly frostbitten that they had to be amputated below the knee. Twenty years later, at the age of 43, Inglis returned to Mount Cook and conquered the summit. The climb was documented in a film titled No Mean Feat: The Mark Inglis Story. Four years later, he went on to climb Mount Everest, and this time the dramatic and somewhat controversial (more on that later) event was captured in a documentary titled Everest: Beyond The Limit.

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A neuro-engineer’s call to arms

Our prosthetics aren’t quite as good as Luke Skywalker’s — but they’re getting there [Image Credit AdamSelwood]

By Katie Palmer | Posted April 22, 2011
Posted in: Physical Science

Attached at the hip, your body and you do everything together, silently communicating with only the slightest misunderstandings. You and your body make tacit agreements to type on a keyboard, jerk away from a hot stove or reach toward a light switch in the dark, and recognition of your teamwork comes only as an afterthought. It’s likely the closest relationship you’ll ever have.
But sometimes that relationship goes sour. Like a two-timing boyfriend, your body can be supremely deceitful. Things fall apart: With loss of limb, paths of communication get shut down, and what was once a strong partnership can turn into a daily battle against pain from an imaginary appendage. Healthy bodies can deceive too. The “rubber hand illusion,” in which your hand, hidden behind a screen, and a visible rubber hand are stroked simultaneously, convinces able-bodied people that an inanimate hunk of rubber belongs to them. When a hammer aims to strike the rubber appendage, subjects recoil as if their own fingers were in danger.

We usually think about our physical identity in terms of where our body starts and ends, says Shaun Gallagher, a cognitive scientist at the University of Central Florida and author of the book How the Body Shapes the Mind. “But it turns out that it’s very fragile, that sense of identity, and you can do all sorts of interesting things with it.”

One of those interesting things is happening at Northwestern University, where advances in prosthetic limbs have demonstrated the enormous flexibility of the connection between brain and body — and how that flexibility can be manipulated to create the next generation of motorized prosthetics. Their thought-controlled prosthetics challenge the conventional sense of “me,” asking where the boundaries of human embodiment truly lie. Are we simply flesh and bone, or are we what we interact with?

In February, Northwestern’s Todd Kuiken described a process called targeted reinnervation at a symposium for the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science conference. Kuiken, the director of the Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, pioneered the process, which allows amputees to control their prosthetic arms with amazing dexterity. You can watch videos of Kuiken’s patients moving heavy hammers and picking up crackers without leaving a crumbly mess. What’s more, the patients achieve this mastery of their artificial arms merely by thinking about moving them.

To accomplish this feat, a doctor first severs the nerves leading to the patient’s chest muscles, or another nearby muscle set. Then, the nerves that previously led to the patient’s arm — the ones that now are truncated at the arm’s stump — are redirected and attached to the chest muscles. These nerves are still capable of sending signals. When a patient thinks about bending his elbow, the nerves to those muscles still fire, but instead of finding themselves at a dead end, they wind up in the chest, stimulating electrodes implanted above their pruned ends. The electrodes control the movement of the motorized prosthesis strapped to the patient’s torso, and the artificial elbow bends.

While this is a remarkable advance in itself, it still leaves amputees unable to feel what they touch; targeted reinnervation patients have to watch their prosthetic arm carefully in order to make sure that it’s actually grasping an object. That may be about to change, though.

Recently, Kuiken’s team has found that sensory nerves for the arm (in addition to the original motor nerves) can be redirected to skin elsewhere on the body. A rig can be devised in which touch sensors on the prosthetic arm send signals to a motorized device that crawls across the reinnervated skin. The device pokes the appropriate sensory nerves with a plunger, allowing the patient to feel what he — or the prosthetic arm — is touching. And just like in the rubber hand illusion, that sense of touch can trick amputees into embodying the external limb.

This development points toward prostheses that are ever more like natural, biological limbs. Depending on your generation’s brand of fantasy, it’s now reasonable to imagine amputees walking around with prosthetic hands like Luke Skywalker or Peter Pettigrew. But there are still several steps to be taken before these fictions become a reality, before amputees can truly become one with their artificial limbs.

One of the remaining barriers to total integration of prosthetic limbs is the seemingly simple ability to know our bodies, a phenomenon known as proprioception. “Right now, amputees have to depend entirely on their vision to know where their limb is,” says neuroscientist Paul Marasco, one of Todd Kuiken’s collaborators at Northwestern. “Vision is not really a sense that’s set up for that.”

Proprioception is an innate sense — of the angle of a quizzically cocked head, the speed of fluttering jazz hands, or the bend of our knees climbing stairs in the dark. Experts separate our proprioceptive sense into two categories: the kinesthetic (the motion of our bodies) and the positional (the location of our body parts). It’s one of the most profoundly under appreciated aspects of our consciousness. And it is precisely because we take proprioception for granted that it is so difficult to untangle.

“Proprioception is really not so well understood — how it’s operating, what it’s doing,” says Marasco. His current research is teasing apart how our sense of limb position and movement is organized in our brains, starting with mapping those neural connections in mice.

It’s difficult to segment proprioception into its component neural parts when the position and motion of our bodies seem so fluid. Somehow, our brains compile information about the length of a muscle, the stretching of skin or the angle of a joint and translate it into a comprehensive sense of being.

That difficulty is compounded by the sheer number of positions that our body can assume. There are 27 points of articulation in an arm, notes Amy Blank, a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University who has done experiments to determine just how essential proprioception is to the functioning of a prosthetic limb. Understanding feedback on the position and movement of all those points will be an extremely challenging task. “In some ways I feel fortunate that I’m not working on the biology side as much,” said Blank, whose research focuses on robotics.

As a better biological understanding of proprioception emerges, researchers hope to develop prosthetic limbs that can stimulate nerves to restore a sense of position and movement — and thereby become increasingly united with the wearer’s self image. And if amputees can call a prosthesis part of their bodies, what’s limiting the rest of us to our heads, shoulders, knees and toes? Weirdly, the cars that we drive or the computers that we use could be as much a part of our bodies as these prostheses soon will be.

Our bodies will certainly be able to adapt to proprioceptive prosthetics, says Marasco, who is continually astounded by patients’ accommodation of the new limbs. “But our ability to build a machine that can do all the things that our hand can do is a different story,” he says. The next generation of prostheses will be limited not by our bodies’ nearly infinite plasticity, but by our engineering capabilities.

Enhanced Warrior Physical Training changes minds, lives

Wounded soldiers discover abilities through alternative fitness program
A Fort Campbell program designed to help soldiers recovering from combat-related injuries is changing warriors' perspective on physical training and a number of other things in the process.

The Enhanced Warrior Physical Training program at Fort Campbell is part of a directive from Washington, D.C., requiring all wounded warrior units in the Army to have some form of adaptive sports or fitness program. Many of these wounded warriors can no longer perform the Army's typical physical training, but they still must log one hour of physical exercise, a physical therapy or a recreational activity five days a week.

The EWPT program allows recovering soldiers to exercise regularly in a manner that best suits their needs. For warriors who are getting out of the Army with a medical discharge, the program aims to get them involved in suitable activities as they make the transition out of the Army and encourages them to continue their participation in those activities once they've left.

At the Fort Campbell Warrior Transition Battalion, soldiers are prescribed an individual physical fitness and adaptive therapy plan based on their medical situation. They work with occupational therapists, clinicians and doctors on setting goals, what they want to do and how they can get there.
Impact of injury

Sgt. 1st Class Landon Ranker, who oversees the coordination and resourcing of the EWPT program, knows first-hand what many of the wounded warriors are going through. He suffered a traumatic brain injury that made it impossible for him to perform his usual job. At the time, there were no well-established fitness programs for wounded warriors. Realizing this, Ranker and occupational therapist Lauren Geddis agreed to bring their individual ideas together and create a comprehensive adaptive plan to help these soldiers.

"As a warrior, I wanted to start doing something to help with my rehab and therapy and stuff," Ranker said.
Ranker said his injuries took much of his confidence and happiness away — for a while at least.

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Terry Fox's legacy: ‘Gracious and able to endure’

TwitterLinkedInEmail.Ben Kaplan, National Post · Apr. 12, 2011 | Last Updated: Apr. 12, 2011 7:41 PM ET

Runners of every stripe need to overcome obstacles and fight their way through a certain amount of pain. That’s notable if you’re a first-time runner, commendable if you’re training for your first marathon, impressive if you’re an Olympic athlete. But if you’re Terry Fox, well, there just isn’t an adjective in the Canadian vocabulary to describe it.

“You can be an Olympic athlete and be a horrible person — I’ve met plenty of Olympians who’ve won medals and are awful,” silver medallist Adam Kreek says from St. John’s, where he recently joined eight other Olympic and Paralympic athletes to commemorate the 31st anniversary of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope. “Terry was not only a hero because he ran across the country, but he’s the consummate Canadian — humble, gracious and able to endure.”

Fox, who dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean back on April 6, 1980, ran 5,373 kilometres, or a marathon a day for 143 often rainy days. It was the furthest, by far, that he had ever run. Before losing the leg to cancer, Fox only ran to keep fit for rugby, soccer and basketball. But when a malignant tumour left him an amputee, he ran his first long-distance race in Prince George, B.C. It was 1979, and he finished dead last in the 17-mile race. And then he had an idea.

“He came home that day and told the family that he wouldn’t be running the Vancouver Marathon. He was going to run across Canada instead,” says Fred Fox, Terry’s older brother, who oversees The Terry Fox Foundation, a cancer research charity that has raised more than $500-million. “He was just an average kid, no different from anyone else, and he had to work his damnedest to get every inch of mileage he achieved.”

In today’s running world — where one in every 33 Canadians owns running shoes — there are clinics to help get you started and specialized chips to place in the soles of your sneakers to keep track of your distance, calories burned and your times. But as we move toward race season, kicking off this Sunday in Montreal, we should remember that running also requires hard work, spirit and dedication. And that’s why even the most casual weekend warriors still find inspiration in Terry Fox and his incredible run.

“You have to use your willpower to complete all your runs,” says Sidney Moss, 79, a five-day-a-week runner in Montreal, still running after triple bypass surgery and an aneurysm of the aorta. “Running is never easy, but when you need inspiration, look at Terry’s feat.”

The event yesterday in St. John’s brought out droves of people in the cold and rain. Those who were there say the conversations weren’t about split times or sneakers and that nobody was complaining about how much they train.

Instead, it was a celebration of character, one that has as much to do with life as it does with running.

“I’m a pretty loud guy, pretty outgoing, but this morning I wanted to take everything in,” says Greg Westlake, a Paralympic athlete who had both of his feet amputated at 10 months old. “There’s a million athletes and a million celebrities, but no other Terry. He taught everyone not to quit.”

bkaplan@nationalpost.com

Defining an Olympian: How a leg amputee is testing the rules of sport

Is it fair that Richard Whitehead cannot compete in the Paralympic marathon, despite being one of the world's best paralympic runners?
Imagine Usain Bolt going for gold in the marathon at the Olympic Games 2012. It would never happen, of course, as the Jamaican sprint world record holder has repeatedly said even 400m is too far to run for his liking. But what if there was a world-class athlete who loved competing in the sprints as much as the marathon?

There is. On Sunday the extraordinary Richard Whitehead, a double leg amputee and already a 200m world champion in the T42 category, will run the London Marathon.

With a personal best of 2hr 42min 52sec, the 34-year-old has convinced most that he is a world-class paralympic athlete at both distances despite having only begun running marathons in 2004. Now coached by the British Olympian Liz Yelling, who is also competing in the marathon this weekend, Whitehead has serious designs on double success at London 2012. But the authorities have other ideas.

There is only one marathon event in the Paralympics and it is for T46 – arm amputees – only. Despite there being a clear disadvantage in competing against athletes who have both lower limbs, Whitehead – whose 2:42:52 time is inside the top 10 world rankings for T46 athletes – is desperate to have his chance against them.

The Nottingham-born athlete mounted a legal challenge against the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) world championships ruling at the court of arbitration for sport – and lost – but he is determined to run in 2012.

Despite being sympathetic to Whitehead's plea, the IPC has bigger concerns to address. The pressure is on to make the 2012 Paralympics as attractive to the public and sponsors as possible. One huge element in that task is making paralympic sport – riddled with complicated sounding disability classifications – easier to understand. There are a whopping 200 different medal events in the track and field paralympic world championships – a figure that the governing body wants to reduce for 2012, and the IPC argues that combining classifications would further complicate things for the public.

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Blue Star brightens the way

By Reid Armstrong
rarmstrong@skyhidailynews.com
Grand County, CO Colorado

When she was 11 years old, Emily Garcia discovered she had a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Today, at 19, she is the face of the Blue Star Foundation.

Started by the Grand County Blues Society, Blue Star, based in Winter Park, has grown into a nationwide program dedicated to connecting young cancer patients to the guitars of their dreams.

Garcia, who lives in south of Houston, Texas, received her Blue Star guitar after one of many surgeries.

"I wasn't able to go to cheerleading as much ... The guitar really helped me cope, kept me distracted."

Her first sheets of music were Taylor Swift songs.

"It really does give you a creative outlet stress reliever. You can take it out on the guitar. It's really special whenever you are giving it to somebody who really needs it at the time they are going through," she said.

An unexplained limp
In 2002, doctors discovered a tumor in Garcia's right leg when she started limping for no apparent reason. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer). She underwent intensive high dosage chemotherapy for seven months and then had surgery to amputate her right leg just above the knee, followed by another six months of chemo. She finished treatment in November 2003.

Two months later, she went on a ski trip for amputees and fell, fracturing her femur. She skied around for the rest of the weekend in a sit ski before realizing that her leg was broken.

She spent the next three months in a body cast and then began rehab, learning to walk on her prothesis that spring. She fell again in September, fracturing her leg again. Doctors started her on weekly IV treatments to strengthen her bones after the cancer treatment had further weakened her bones.

In February 2004, Garcia relapsed. Doctors found a tumor in her left lung. She underwent surgery in May and began chemotherapy again. This time her kidneys shut down and she spent several weeks in the hospital undergoing painful treatments to restart her kidneys.

In September 2004, she returned to school for the first time since her diagnoses and became a cheerleader for her school. Things were great, for a while. But, in January 2005, the tumor reappeared in her lung, taking over almost the entire organ. Garcia started treatment again. That summer, she was on radiation treatment for seven weeks.

She returned to school in the fall, cheerleading between treatments. It wasn't until the fall of 2007 that the tumors had shrunk enough to do surgery. The surgery involved removing five ribs and a large portion of her lung.

Afterwards, she continued treatments and rehab so that she could cheer again.

She finished treatment in May 2008. Pain returned, but this time it wasn't clear why. Doctors looked for months before discovering a tumor in her intestines in September. She had the tumor and a portion of her intestines removed in December, and began yet another round of chemo in January 2009.

She got through those tough times by playing her guitar, drawing and writing in her journal.

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Pair primed for action

IAN BUTTERWORTH | April 13th, 2011

TWO disabled Territory athletes will make history when they compete in a range of field events at the Arafura Games in Darwin next month.

Katherine resident Curtis Devereux, 16, and Liam Hunter, 23, from Darwin are both leg amputees and are set to become the first Territory athletes with disabilities to compete in field events at the Arafura Games.

Devereux will compete in javelin and shot-put while Hunter will go one better, and has settled on javelin, shot-put and discus.

Both are eager to indulge in their new activity and are working hard to gain throwing skills necessary to participate at the Games.

Hunter, who lost his left leg above the knee in a motorcycle accident four years ago, likes to spend his spare time fishing and hunting and keeps active playing wheelchair basketball, but is enthusiastic about the change of sporting direction.

"I've been playing wheelchair basketball for about four years and have been to the Sports Institute in Canberra a few times. I still love the game, but an opportunity arose to do something different and I jumped at it.

"I had a new prosthetic fitted last week and hopefully the mechanics will make movement smoother and allow for more flexibility.

"I'm going into athletics with an open mind and if I make finals, or win a medal, so much the better. As a disabled person I reckon you should try as many different activities as possible.

U.S. troops in Afghanistan suffer more catastrophic injuries

Study shows 2010 saw at least 171 troops suffer battlefield injuries resulting in amputations; 65 of them lost two limbs or more.
Marine 1st Lt. James Byler, 25, of Long Island, New York, was leading a patrol in Afghanistan late last year when an explosion severed his legs and snapped off the ends of several fingers. He is undergoing physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times / December 22, 2010)

By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

6:11 p.m. CDT, April 6, 2011
la-fg-afghanistan-wounds-20110407
Reporting from Landstuhl, Germany, and Helmand— Grim combat statistics that one military doctor called "unbelievable" show U.S. troops in Afghanistan suffered an unprecedented number of catastrophic injuries last year, including a tripling of amputations of more than one limb.

A study by doctors at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where most wounded troops are sent before returning to the U.S., confirmed their fears: The battlefield has become increasingly brutal.

In 2009, 75 service members brought to Landstuhl had limbs amputated. Of those, 21 had lost more than one limb.

But in 2010, 171, 11% of all the casualties brought to Landstuhl, had undergone amputations, a much higher proportion than in past wars. Of the 171, 65 had lost more than one limb.

Injuries to the genital area were also on the increase. In 2009, 52 casualties were brought to Landstuhl with battlefield injuries to their genitals or urinary tract. In 2010, that number was 142.

Dr. John Holcomb, a retired Army colonel with extensive combat-medicine experience, said he and other doctors involved in the study were shocked by the findings, which he labeled as "unbelievable."

"Everybody was taken aback by the frequency of these injuries: the double amputations, the injuries to the penis and testicles," said Holcomb, now a medical professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. "Nothing like this has been seen before."

Military brass say the increase in catastrophic injuries can be attributed to the Taliban's use of improvised explosive devices, the roadside bombs that account for the majority of U.S. and NATO deaths and injuries. Last year was also the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with 499 killed, according to the Defense Department.

Troops are increasingly vulnerable to injuries from such makeshift bombs as they mount foot patrols in an effort to win support from Afghan villagers, a key strategy in the counterinsurgency campaign.

An armored Humvee provides a measure of protection from a blast. A so-called mine-resistant vehicle provides more. But when a soldier or Marine steps on a roadside bomb, there is considerably less protection from flying shrapnel or super-heated air. Also, rocks, dirt and other debris embedded in a blast wound can cause immediate and devastating infections.

The hospital at Landstuhl is the busiest it has been since the battle in the Iraqi city of Fallouja in late 2004, officials said. Both the number and severity of wounds have increased, said Air Force Lt. Col. Raymond Fang, a surgeon and trauma medical director at Landstuhl.

The average patient stays about three days at Landstuhl before being airlifted to the U.S. for further care. "All we're doing is clearing up the destruction done by the injury," Fang said.

In Afghanistan, some officers believe the insurgents have increased both the explosive power of their improvised bombs and their ability to place them for maximum carnage.

Some of the explosives are placed on fences and other aboveground locations so that the blast strikes directly at the legs of passing Marines, soldiers or medical corpsmen who accompany combat troops.

"It's a weapon of terror designed to inflict the most grievous wounds," said Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, formerly the top Marine in Afghanistan.

The increase in catastrophic wounds has taken an emotional toll on the medical personnel at Landstuhl, said Navy Cmdr. Joseph Sheldon, one of nine chaplains at the U.S. military hospital.

Sheldon and the other chaplains are also present when patients awake to learn of the extent of their battlefield injuries. He remembers sitting with a wounded Marine on Christmas Eve.

"There was a lot of silence and a lot of tears, for both of us," Sheldon said. "Everybody wants their life to be the way it was, but it's not. Coming to grips with that is hard."

After the Landstuhl study was first reported in the Washington Post, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) asked Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, for an explanation of the increase in amputations and what the military was doing to protect front-line personnel.

The Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, has been particularly hard hit, with 24 Marines killed and more than 175 wounded while deployed in the Sangin district of Helmand province.

More than a dozen Marines from the battalion have lost two or more limbs. One of them is 1st Lt. James Byler, 25, of Long Island, New York, who was leading a patrol in early October when an explosion severed his legs and snapped off the ends of several fingers.

Byler's patrol was walking slowly, carefully, in what is called "ranger style," with each man following in the footsteps of the man in front of him.

"Everyone had gone over that spot," said Byler, now recuperating in the U.S. "I was just the one who stepped on it when it exploded.

"It wasn't a big one, but it was enough to blow my legs off."

tony.perry@latimes.com

Volunteers help make life easier for 19-year-old Texas amputee

by Steve Stoler / WFAA WFAA Posted on April 2, 2011 at 7:53 AM

GARLAND — Whitney Mitchell, a 19-year-old Berkner High School graduate whose arms and legs were amputated, will have a much easier time getting around her new home thanks to some of her kind and caring neighbors. Mitchell finally came home last week after spending months in the hospital and rehab. The amputations became necessary when Whitney suffered septic shock from an infection, stopping the flow of blood into her arms and legs. A viewer of KENS 5's sister station, WFAA News 8, was so touched by her plight and positive attitude, he rallied his troops to help. Mitchell's long-awaited return home suddenly turned into horror last Friday. A portable ramp suddenly tilted downward, spilling her out of the wheelchair and onto the ground. “My heart went up in my throat. It was just scary," said Patricia Kirven, Mitchell's mother. When Ed Seghers saw our story, he was moved by Mitchell's spirit. But one thing he heard made him feel he could help. Whitney’s mother explained that without wheelchair ramps, Whitney cannot go into her backyard. Seghers is a member of a volunteer group at the First United Methodist Church in Garland. They call themselves “God's Old Geezers.” The Geezers build wheelchair ramps. When they heard about Mitchell's struggles, they couldn't wait to help. “There’s not a much better feeling internally than to help people in need. And when you do that, you get a warm feeling inside," Seghers said. So on Friday, they sawed, leveled and sanded, building two ramps. Mitchell tried out her new ramp ever so carefully. She was very nervous after last week's fall. The Geezers call Mitchell an example of courage, faith and persistence; someone who serves as an inspiration to everyone. “It’s a good reminder that when we really get down in the dumps with our own troubles, we need to look around," said Clay Womack, the church pastor. Seghers said Mitchell's difficult challenges puts life in perspective for others. “When you have a little pain or ache and you see someone like Whitney, that pain or ache goes away immediately," he said.

Bionics

bi-on-ics
Etymology: from bi (as in “life”) + onics (as in “electronics”); the study of mechanical systems that function like living organisms or parts of living organisms
By Josh Fischman
Photograph by Mark Thiessen

Amanda Kitts is mobbed by four- and five-year-olds as she enters the classroom at the Kiddie Kottage Learning Center near Knoxville, Tennessee. "Hey kids, how're my babies today?" she says, patting shoulders and ruffling hair. Slender and energetic, she has operated this day-care center and two others for almost 20 years. She crouches down to talk to a small girl, putting her hands on her knees.

"The robot arm!" several kids cry.

"You remember this, huh?" says Kitts, holding out her left arm. She turns her hand palm up. There is a soft whirring sound. If you weren't paying close attention, you'd miss it. She bends her elbow, accompanied by more whirring.

Continue....

Athlete, cancer survivor takes it one step at a time

By Bill Lohmann
Published: March 27, 2011
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Late on a cool, gray afternoon, Robin Pugh Yoder ducked into an office, changed into a T-shirt and shorts, and headed for a little exercise — in a hospital parking lot.

She walked steadily yet cautiously, conscious not only of moving cars but also speed bumps, potholes and a persistent breeze that could, if she lost her balance, blow her over.

You notice things like that when you're 49 and learning to walk again.

"This whole process is slow and tedious and hard," said Yoder, who lost her right leg to cancer last August and is taking baby steps, literally, as she grows accustomed to a prosthetic leg. "Not just on a physical level, but mentally.

"My life has changed forever."

Some things, however, never change.

Yoder, an accomplished athlete, has regularly competed in the Monument Avenue 10K, and this year will be no different, other than she will be walking, not running. Her goal Saturday is not to finish in a specific time, but simply to finish, even if she has to use crutches.

This time last year, she was preparing for the 10K, the first race of the season, by running three days a week and swimming, lifting weights or exercising on elliptical machines three other days. Today, she's walking in parking lots and in her neighborhood, sweating through strenuous rehab sessions, and building her proficiency and endurance with an artificial leg. She prefers not to compare last year with today.

"I try not to think about that because … if I think about where I was a year ago it gets depressing and frustrating," she said. "But if I think about where I was in August, I'm really proud of myself.

"That's life before, and now there's my new life. My new life is just trying to live in my old world with my new body, and realizing I can still do the same things, but I'm going to have to learn to do them in a slightly different way."

Yoder, who lives in Chesterfield County and works as an oncology social worker at CJW Medical Center helping others through difficult periods in their lives, has a long history of athletic achievement and overcoming obstacles.

She was a high school basketball star headed to college on an athletic scholarship when she was diagnosed with bone cancer in her right leg. Doctors saved the leg, but her college basketball career was over. After graduating from East Carolina University, she served two years in the Peace Corps.

Through the years, Yoder competed in triathlons and was training for one last summer in honor of a friend, Lanie Evans, who was battling brain cancer, when she noticed an odd heaviness in her right leg. Soon after, she was diagnosed with cancer again — she believes it was caused by the radiation treatment from her first bout with cancer — but this time, circumstances made amputation the prudent course of action.

A month after surgery, she was walking on a prosthetic leg. A month after that, she was swimming. Soon, she was sitting on a bicycle.

She went full-bore into rehabilitation even while she was going through the grieving process that is normal when a limb is lost. She still dreams of her missing leg.

But patience is not something that comes easily to someone as driven, direct and goal-oriented as Yoder. Not long after she began walking on her artificial leg, a therapist casually mentioned shopping malls are good places to practice walking.

The therapist never suggested she go soon or alone, which is precisely what Yoder did. After creeping along the storefronts, hanging on to the walls and doorways, an overwhelmed Yoder managed to get to a bench, where she called a friend who offered to come pick her up.

After reading an online description of how she might run with a prosthetic leg, she decided it would be a good idea to practice, alone, in a narrow hallway in her home so that if she lost her balance, she could fall against one wall or another.

Unafraid to challenge herself, she has fallen numerous times in therapy and at home. She once strained her shoulder muscles catching herself awkwardly, so she has been in physical therapy for that, too.

Physical therapist David Lawrence, who sometimes has to push hard to get patients with new artificial legs to take the next step, has to encourage Yoder to slow down.

"With Robin, one of the challenges has been, how do you keep her motivated and working while at the same point holding back the reins so she doesn't hurt herself?" said Lawrence, founder of Lawrence Rehabilitation Specialists and The Gait Center. "I just try to keep her a little grounded."

Yoder's plan to walk the Monument Avenue 10K, a distance of more than 6 miles, less than eight months removed from amputation is "a little bit lofty," Lawrence said, but for Yoder, it's realistic.

"This is her coming-out party," he said.

And it will be a party. Yoder will be accompanied by a small army of more than 100 supporters sporting royal blue T-shirts emblazoned with the images of high-kicking dancers and the phrase, "Because We Can-Can, Robin Can-Can."

"She is stubborn and will dig in and do whatever it takes to meet her goal," said Amber Williams, a friend who has trained with Yoder for triathlons and will be among the blue-shirted supporters. "She's just the most honest, thoughtful, insightful person I've ever had the pleasure of spending time with.

"She's been a complete inspiration for me."

Everyone sees the determined Yoder, a woman with the seemingly relentless spirit who expects to run and ride a bicycle. What they don't necessarily see are the almost imperceptible strides she makes from one grueling therapy session to the next. They don't see her struggles with a poor-fitting socket of her artificial leg — what's left of her right leg above the knee has been shrinking since surgery — that complicate the already challenging walking process in which, as she put it, you're trying to make your hip think it's an ankle.

They can't see Yoder grieving for her friend Lanie, who died a few weeks ago and was her inspiration as she recovered from her own surgery. They don't see her fretting over her next set of scans, which are scheduled every few months, to make sure the cancer that was in her leg hasn't spread.

It's impossible for people to know just how many mornings Yoder would rather pull the covers over her head and pretend this didn't happen.

But she won't do that because of the people who encourage and inspire her — family, friends, co-workers and patients, physicians and therapists — and because as an athlete she knows only she can put in the work to make things better.

As daylight faded, she finished her long loop around the parking lot of the Thomas Johns Cancer Hospital, where she is co-founder and director of The Hawthorne Cancer Resource Center, past the garden for patients she started by digging in the dirt, past other hospital workers heading home for the day (she still had an evening support group of breast cancer survivors to lead). Many offered good wishes and encouragement.

"What everyone wants is for me to have a good ending, and it's going to be, I think," she said. "But people have to be patient and let me get there."

But patience is in the mind of the beholder. Yoder is already looking beyond the Monument Avenue 10K. She has been invited to participate in a mini-triathlon — running, biking and swimming — in Maryland in August. She can't help herself. She's making plans.

"I might can do it by then," she said. "It gives me a goal."

Giant steps forward for brave Bianca

TAYISSA BARONE, The West Australian
March 28, 2011, 3:00 am
Wendie Fowler was more than happy to follow her daughter Bianca across the finish line at yesterday's Centre for Cerebral Palsy 1km Walk Wheel Run.

That's because the seven-year-old's triumphant finish at the event on the Burswood foreshore marked the longest distance she has travelled in one go in her revolutionary prosthetic Cheetah legs.

The state-of-the-art $23,000 legs were funded by the Centre for Cerebral Palsy and were on full display at the annual event which saw 28 of the charity's champions participate.

Bianca is now faced with her biggest challenge, learning how to run.

The centre has not been able to find anyone in Australia to provide the specialised coaching needed to train her to use her legs to their full potential.

She currently relies on Skype sessions with fellow amputees in the US for advice.

Bianca was left with cerebral palsy and a range of heart, leg and bowel complications after her premature birth at 26 weeks. Both of her legs were amputated below the knee when she was three years old.

Mrs Fowler said Bianca's confidence had grown but there was still a long way to go. "Her confidence in her walking has come up quite a bit," she said.

Tortoise Loses Leg, Learns to Walk With a Wheel

By Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 03.16.11

Tortoises are among the oldest species on the planet, remaining virtually unchanged for millions of years -- but sometimes they too need a replacement part every now and then. When a severely injured red-footed tortoise was discovered recently in Uberaba, Brazil, it seemed to be on the verge of death. A team of surgeon from the local veterinary hospital succeeded in saving the animal's life, but injuries forced to amputate one of its front legs. Just when it looked certain that the tortoise would never walk again, one of the vets had an ingenious idea -- to reinvent the wheel, tortoise style.

One of the surgeon responsible for saving the tortoise, wildlife expert Cláudio Yudi of the Veterinary Hospital of Uberaba, suspects that the animal injured its foot on an electric fence. By the time the tortoise was discovered, an infection had overtaken its leg to the point that the appendage could not be salvaged -- leaving the team with no choice but to amputate it.

Yudi told Brazilian media that he then devised a plan to help the tortoise walk again. Using a bit of plastic resin, he secured a common furniture caster to the underside of its shell where the leg had been, returning to the tortoise some semblance of its former locomotion.

Amazingly, the tortoise is said to be recovering well and has even learned to walk with its replacement wheel. Unfortunately, the limitations of the improvised prosthetic leg on rough terrain mean the animal cannot survive in the wild.

Red-footed tortoises are native to the forests of South America where they face a variety of threats from human interaction. They are a prime target for hunters looking to ship them throughout the continent to be made into pets or eaten as a food source. But perhaps more pressingly, the encroachment of development within their habitats means a higher likelihood the tortoises will be injured or killed by industrial equipment and infrastructure -- in this case, an electrified fences.

Their close genetic cousins, South American yellow-footed tortoises, have already been driven to near extinction from similar threats in their habitat, earning them the designation as an endangered species. It may be only a matter of time until red-footed tortoises are granted similar protections.

Granted, persistence and stubborn determination have long been counted among the tortoise's chief strengths, but sometimes they too need a helping hand along the way to ensure their preservation -- regardless of the form that hand may take.

One of the surgeon responsible for saving the tortoise, wildlife expert Cláudio Yudi of the Veterinary Hospital of Uberaba, suspects that the animal injured its foot on an electric fence. By the time the tortoise was discovered, an infection had overtaken its leg to the point that the appendage could not be salvaged -- leaving the team with no choice but to amputate it.

Yudi told Brazilian media that he then devised a plan to help the tortoise walk again. Using a bit of plastic resin, he secured a common furniture caster to the underside of its shell where the leg had been, returning to the tortoise some semblance of its former locomotion.

Amazingly, the tortoise is said to be recovering well and has even learned to walk with its replacement wheel. Unfortunately, the limitations of the improvised prosthetic leg on rough terrain mean the animal cannot survive in the wild.

Red-footed tortoises are native to the forests of South America where they face a variety of threats from human interaction. They are a prime target for hunters looking to ship them throughout the continent to be made into pets or eaten as a food source. But perhaps more pressingly, the encroachment of development within their habitats means a higher likelihood the tortoises will be injured or killed by industrial equipment and infrastructure -- in this case, an electrified fences.

Their close genetic cousins, South American yellow-footed tortoises, have already been driven to near extinction from similar threats in their habitat, earning them the designation as an endangered species. It may be only a matter of time until red-footed tortoises are granted similar protections.

Granted, persistence and stubborn determination have long been counted among the tortoise's chief strengths, but sometimes they too need a helping hand along the way to ensure their preservation -- regardless of the form that hand may take.

‘Gimps on Ice’

by Luke Mehall
Reaching new heights at the annual climbing rendezvous

The Ouray Ice Park provided the backdrop for a recent rendezvous of rebirth. The 4th annual “Gimps on Ice” festival brought amputee and disabled ice climbers together for a weekend of renewal beginning March 5.

For Mike Reddy, “Gimps on Ice” felt like a homecoming to the San Juan Mountains, where his life was forever changed two years ago. Reddy was one of 38 participants in the event, organized by Paradox Sports, a nonprofit out of Boulder that provides opportunities and adaptive equipment to people with disabilities. Reddy, now a PhD student at Yale University, took a 150-foot fall while climbing Mount Sneffels in 2009. He was rescued by his climbing partner, a nearby party and the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team. The fall left him with a spinal cord injury, a fractured right ankle and a diagnosis that he would never climb again.

“It was an experience that changed my life forever,” Reddy said. “I was left feeling truly broken, defeated and lost.”

Even with his injuries, Reddy felt the overwhelming desire to return to climbing so he connected with Paradox Sports. He received visits, first from co-founder and wounded veteran DJ Skelton, and then from Malcolm Daly, an amputee climber and executive director of the organization. Flying in from Colorado, Daly took Reddy climbing for the first time since his accident in a Connecticut climbing gym.

“Malcolm is a really special guy,” Reddy said. “Paradox Sports is an organization that really reached out to help me.”

The weekend of March 5-6 was the second time Reddy had climbed ice. “I don’t climb as eloquently or as hard as I used to, but that doesn’t matter, it is the feeling that I’m after,” he said.

Alongside Reddy, on the ice walls that Ouray is famous for, were other disabled climbers: one missing an arm; others missing a foot; some without both feet. A look up to the wall revealed climbers using artificial feet with crampons made for ice climbing. Nearby, Daly had a bucket of crampons labeled, “Daly Bucket of Feet.”

Although the event has doubled in size since last year’s event, the ice climbing site was well managed by the Paradox Sports crew. Some climbers aren’t able to hike in themselves, and Chad Butrick, director of operations for Paradox, carried a couple participants in on his back to a point where they could be lowered into the canyon by a carefully rigged rope system.

Heidi Duce, a 20-year-old climber who grew up in Ouray, climbs with a prosthetic for her right foot. A below-the-knee amputee, she was born with a congenital defect that resulted in her not having a fibula, foot or ankle bones.

Growing up next to the Ouray Ice Park, Duce always wanted to climb the icefalls and even had a family friend, Chris Folsom, who would have taken her climbing. The problem was her parents wouldn’t let her go.

“Chris would tell my parents that he would take me ice climbing,” Duce said. “But, they never relayed the message to me. When I turned 18, I finally got to go and was immediately hooked.”


Chad Jukes, left, helps Kate Sawford tackle her first lead in the Ouray Ice Park. /Photo by Claudia Lopez
“Chris would tell my parents that he would take me ice climbing,” Duce said. “But, they never relayed the message to me. When I turned 18, I finally got to go and was immediately hooked.”

Folsom, and his wife, Deb, are passionate supporters of the community and have their own organization called Amped Outdoors, with a similar mission as Paradox. A man of many trades, Chris even makes special crampons that Duce and others use.

Duce now attends Mesa State College in Grand Junction, where she studies adaptive physical education. She enjoys helping others climb as much as she enjoys it herself, and her favorite thing about the Gimps on Ice weekend is being around other amputee climbers.

“Ice climbing opened the doors to what is now my passion in life,” Duce noted. “The outdoors are very important to me, and I hope to work in the field of recreation therapy once I graduate college.”

Duce received the illustrious “Got Stump” award two years ago, a storied T-shirt that is awarded by Paradox every year at the Ouray Ice Festival to a disabled climber who embodies the spirit of the organization. The shirts are also sold as a fund-raiser for the park and have raised more than $50,000 thus far. Duce’s award, which is worn at various climbing endeavors, comes with one important rule: it can’t be washed.

“Yes, it smells,” she joked.

Pete Davis, a 31-year-old amputee climber from Ridgway, received the “Got Stump” award this year. Another congenital amputee, whose right arm was formed only to his elbow at birth, Davis, lived in Durango for 10 years and is a Fort Lewis College graduate with 20 years of climbing experience. He now works as an ice farmer at the park, maintaining the drip systems that create the waterfalls.

Davis has always felt a need to reach out to other amputees, and enjoys the sense of community that Gimps on Ice and other Paradox events bring. “This is a celebration of ability, whatever ability you have,” Davis said. “It’s about getting people from our community together. Not often as an amputee do you get to hang and climb with people that are similar to you.”

Gimps on Ice enjoys an abundance of support from the Ouray community. Restaurants, coffee shops and breweries host the group. One establishment, Mouse’s Chocolates and Coffee, catered to the group by opening two hours early. A special batch of coffee, called “Gimps on Ice Blend,” was created by Kristopher’s Culinaire and a “One Arm, One Leg IPA” was brewed up by the Ourayle House Brewery.

Claudia López, a photographer from Boulder, makes the annual trek to Gimps on Ice. She said it is her favorite event of the year. “It centers me and sets the mood for the rest of the year,” López said. “It is important for me to be here.”

López also noted that every year there is a “rock star,” an individual who wins over the hearts of the entire group. This year, it was Austin Bushnell.

Austin lives in Buena Vista and has an undiagnosed medical condition. He requires assistance walking, and has many mental and physical issues. Still, his father, Robert, tries to expose him to as much as he can. He’s climbed an artificial wall once before, and has even hiked a 13,000 foot mountain near Buena Vista. His brother Nathan was there climbing and supporting, as well as a family friend, Tom Moody.

Hanging off an adjacent rope, Folsom was by Austin’s side the entire way as he inched up the frozen wall. Austin’s balance issues were evident, and the basic motion of kicking the crampons into the ice and swinging the ice tools were difficult. Folsom improvised every move to cater to Austin’s needs, at one point even swinging his own tools into the ice so that Austin could stand on them for an inch of progress. Austin completed one climb and made a heroic attempt at another, with cheers from the crowd for both efforts.

His father was inspired and impressed by the event. “My pride to see Austin have this experience is hard to explain, you have to live it,” he said. “The people of Paradox Sports express the most genuine interest in helping everyone succeed, with an overwhelming openness and friendliness. This event was full of people who are truly living.”

Gretchen Wegrich, Stoked & Broke: Hollywood highlights Hamilton's tragic story

Posted: 03/13/2011 01:30:15 AM PST

Click photo to enlarge«1»Bethany Hamilton and Alana Blanchard are two of the hardest ripping young female professional surfers to hit the water, surf magazines, and now, theaters near you.

"Soul Surfer," a Hollywood movie based on Hamilton's life, will debut in mainstream theaters April 8, sharing the inspiring story of Hamilton's return to competitive surfing after a shark attack left the young surfer girl from Kauai without an arm.

The real Hamilton and Blanchard play themselves in the water as the movie's surfing stunt doubles, which means the film has potential to showcase the talent of these two real life professional surfers.

Hamilton and Blanchard's friendship is central to the story portrayed in "Soul Surfer." In the film, Hamilton is played by AnnaSophia Robb, the blonde pixie-like girl from Bridge To Terabithia, and Blanchard is played by Lorraine Nicholson, Jack Nicholson's daughter. The film's cast is rounded out with Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt and Carrie Underwood.

As a Hollywood film about young, female surfers in Hawaii, "Soul Surfer" will undoubtedly draw comparison to "Blue Crush," which also featured professional surfers doubling for actors in relatively unrealistic surf scenes. While "Blue Crush" was about girl power, "Soul Surfer" is the story of an athlete's personal journey of overcoming the loss of her arm with inner strength, courage and faith as she follows her dream of becoming a professional surfer.

Hamilton definitely deserves the bravest

female surfer award.

In 2003, when she was 13 and considered one of the up-and-coming young surfers in Kauai, Hamilton had her left arm chomped off by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing Tunnels with best friend Blanchard and Blanchard's father. Less than a month after loosing 60 percent of her blood and undergoing three surgeries, Hamilton paddled back out into the ocean, caught a wave and stood up. Her miraculous, courageous return to the sea was only the beginning of a successful competitive career.

Set apart from many of her peers, Hamilton is unquestionably a power surfer, excelling in barrels and big surf. Besides Blanchard, Hamilton is the only other female surfer on the Rip Curl pro international surf team. Though she has fallen short of qualifying for the Women's World Championship Tour, Hamilton competes in Women's star and qualifying events and has participated in Women's World Tour contests as a wildcard entry.

Hamilton is a focused competitor and will undoubtedly earn her place on the Women's World Tour before long.

Blanchard -- as any male or female surfer who hasn't been stranded on a remote coral atoll for the past few years will undoubtedly tell you -- is the hottest female surfer.

Blanchard has recently dominated the image of women's professional surfing, stealing the spotlight away from surfing and turning it toward the smallness of her bikini bottoms. Her message? Female professional surfers can be sexy and surf better than you.

It's hard to argue after Blanchard won the Women's Pipe Master's twice, once in 2005 and again in 2007, then ripped her way to the Women's World Tour. Blanchard finished 13th in the world in 2009 and re-qualified for the Women's World Tour for this year. She also recently released her signature bikini line through surf sponsor Rip Curl.

Blanchard is the premier face of Rip Curl, dominating the company's ad campaigns with sultry come-hither looks, the popular sandy swimsuit modeling shot and revealing bottom turns.

In the water and out, both girls represent femininity and athleticism, but they do it in ways that are dramatically different.

Hamilton has chosen not to use a prosthetic and speaks publicly about loving who you are and the importance of inner beauty. She takes her job as a role model seriously, finding time to graciously respond to the many Facebook comments she receives from adoring little girls.

Now at age 20, she successfully manages her professional surf career and position as the face of the many charities she supports, including the Friends of Bethany Foundation, which supports shark attack survivors and traumatic amputees.

Bethany's faith has been central to her life and she has publicly spoken and published books about her Christian faith as a source of inspiration. For Hamilton, the answer to the question "Why me?" lies in her faith, and in the opportunity for her to use her story to inspire others to overcome challenges and find inspiration and inner strength as they pursued their dreams.

Don't go see "Soul Surfer" expecting authenticity -- or 90 minutes of Blanchard surfing in an itty bitty, teeny weenie bikini. But do go see this movie with a young girl or athlete, to be inspired, or to imagine what if? What if it was you who had to ask, as Hamilton did, "Why me?"

How would you answer?