The amazing crew of 14 ex-servicemen making history as the first all-amputee sailing crew

EXCLUSIVE by Sarah Arnold 21/02/2010


They have stared death in the face, been shot at, blown up by bombs and suffered terrible ­injuries in conflicts around the world.


They have all lost limbs but none of them have lost their fighting spirit.


Now the 14 ex-servicemen with just 15 legs between them are making history as the first all-amputee sailing crew to ­compete in one of the worlds most ­prestigious yacht races.


Last night the band of brothers were making final preparations in Antigua for the RORC Caribbean 600, an epic voyage that will push them to the limit. The crew range in age from 27 to 72 and hold ranks from private to colonel, but share an extraordinary bond which they describe as a fellowship of shared experience.


The gruelling challenge, which will take up to four days over 605 nautical miles, looping round the Caribbean, starts at 10am ­tomorrow.


To add to the ­pressure the boat, which has no special modifications to make it easier for them to control, had an eleventh-hour change of skipper after amputee Colin Rouse broke his remaining leg skiing and had to drop out. He lost his left leg eight years ago when a gas leak on a yacht caused an explosion.


Colin, 52, a former RAF engineer from Torquay, Devon, said: The guys who make up this ­extraordinary crew are heroes. This is an ­immense challenge for able-bodied people, let alone with the ­challenges these guys face every day.


"They have ­incredible grit and ­determination. They have fought for their country and now they are ­fighting for their future. The aim is to help them realise their ­potential.


Paul Burns, 48, from Nottingham, will now skipper the 65ft yacht called The ­Spirit of Juno, but ­nicknamed the ­allotment by the crew because they will have to dig deep to reach the finish line.


Paul, a former corporal in the ­Parachute Regiment, had his left leg ­amputated below the knee, lost part of his right foot and suffered horrific burns in the ­Warrenpoint Massacre, when 18 soldiers died in an IRA bomb attack near the border of the Irish Republic.


Paul said: It was August 27, 1979, at around 4.30pm and I was just 18. We were in a convoy going down to the border and there was a 500lb bomb by the side of the road. There was a huge blast and of the eight of us in our vehicle only two survived.


Then 25 minutes ­later there was a ­secondary device and that caught the rest of the guys who had been there to support and tend to us. Twelve more died and it was the biggest loss of life since the last war.


I lay where the blast had thrown me, burning and my body smashed. My left leg was amputated four days later. I spent two years in hospital and rehab.


Following his recovery Paul was posted to the Joint Services Parachute Centre to train as a rigger, maintaining and packing parachutes.


He has also done nearly 1,000 jumps, even parachuting with the Red Devils, before taking up sailing in 1985, with the British Limbless Ex-Servicemens Association, going on to join an all-­disabled crew for a round-the-world race.


He said: I really have lived these last 30 years. I have tried to inspire all around me and show the IRA they could not break me.


Paul, who owns a three-legged dog he calls Tripod, added: This will be the biggest sailing challenge of my life, skippering a boat and crew twice as big as anything I have done before in one of the top races in the world.


Many of the crew have suffered ­horrific injuries, but we see this as no barrier to them competing.


Ultimately they will cope better with day-to-day life because through this, they will face problems and find a way round them. But we are not just ­inspiring our own. We are inspiring all those around us.


COLIN HAMILTON


Colin Hamilton, 33, is a sergeant in the 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of ­Scotland The Black Watch.The dad-of-two, who has served for 16 years, had an above-the-knee right leg amputation after ­trying to save a ­colleague who was electrocuted in 2001. He said: I returned to Iraq in 2004 and Im due in ­Afghanistan next year.


JASE EVANS


Dad-of-three Jase Evans, 37, from ­Norwich, was a ­sergeant vehicle ­mechanic in the ­Royal Electrical and ­Mechanical ­Engineers. He lost his right leg below the knee after a car crash in 2001. He said: The ­camaraderie gives you a boost. I ­recently went diving in Egypt and we took a chap who was blind. It was a privilege to be part of that.


LEE MENDAY


Lee Menday, 50, from Holbrook, Suffolk, was a training ­instructor in the Royal Navy. He had a below-the-knee ­amputation of his left leg in 2005 due to sporting injuries ­dating back to 1983 when he was in the Falklands. I now have a sea leg, he said. As a teacher I want to be a good role ­model and these guys are helping me do it.

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MATT GOODWIN


Father-of-three Matt Goodwin, 43, from Wolverhampton, served with the ­Royal Marines HQ and ­Signals Squadron­

until he lost his right leg below the knee after falling from a building during an ­anti-terrorist training exercise in 1986.

He said: The injury made me lose my ­confidence. Now Im taking back ­control of my life.


NIGEL SMITH


Nigel Smith, 50, was a mechanic in the Royal Navy. His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was hit by a drunk driver. He said: I learned to sail with Blesma, which opened the door to me ­circumnavigating the globe on an ­all-disabled boat. Our motto was Crossing the latitudes to change attitudes.

I cant think of ­anywhere better.


PAUL HAGAN


Granddad Paul ­Hagan, 48, from Leicester, was a petty officer in the Merchant Navy for 10 years. He had his left leg amputated in 1998. He said: I have fought my ­demons. Its knowing, my God, here I am, no use of my legs, but scudding through the waves purely by our own physical strength. We are living proof we are not beyond rehabilitation.


PHIL AUCOTT


Dad-of-two Phil ­Aucott, 40, from ­Nottingham, was a corporal in the Royal Corps of Transport. His left leg was ­amputated above the knee after a ­motorbike accident in 1994. He said: It took a long time to get my head around. But I went on to coach able-bodied athletes, have played county cricket and gone rock climbing.


STEVE GILL


Steve Gill, 40, known as Big Daddy, from Leics, was a private with the 2nd ­Battalion the Royal Anglians. He lost both legs and his right eye in 1989, when an IRA bomb went off inside a beer barrel in Belfast. Steve said: If my ­children can see me doing what Im doing with half a body, I want them to think, ­Imagine what I could achieve.


TOM HIGGINS


Tom Higgins, 61, a father-of-three from Macclesfield served in the Army for four and a half years until his right leg was ­amputated above the knee in 1971 after an accident. Tom said: Ive become quite an experienced sailor with Blesma. It gives me a sense of freedom and competing against able-bodied crews is as good as it gets.


WAYNE H HARROD


Wayne H Harrod, 40, from Melksham, Wilts, is a ­colour ­sergeant with 1st ­Battalion the Royal Anglian ­Regiment. He lost his left leg below the knee in 2004 after a training accident. He said: Losing my leg was just a glitch. Its the fifth time Ive sailed with these guys. We laugh that when we get on board theres plenty of leg room!


JOHN REEVES


John Reeves, 49, from ­Guildford, Surrey, served in the 3rd ­Battalion The ­Parachute Regiment.He lost the sight in his right eye while setting up a booby trap with a faulty detonator in training in 1983. He said: There is a unique bond and there is a feeling of unity in making sure our ­injuries dont conquer or ­overwhelm us.


JOHNATHAN JONO LEE


Johnathan Jono Lee, 27, from Newark, Notts, is a lance ­corporal in the 2nd Battalion The ­Yorkshire Regiment.He lost his right leg below the knee in Helmand province in 2007 after his Snatch ­Land ­Rover was blown up. He said: Ive been back to work for 12 months now and want to ­return to ­Afghanistan.


Paul Burns


The boats captain, Paul Burns, 48, from Nottingham, was a corporal in the Paras but lost his left leg in an IRA bombing. He took up sailing after nearly a thousand parachute jumps. He said: Parachuting, you have a piece of fabric to soar through the clouds. With a yacht the fabric helps you soar through the water so it was a natural progression.


Col HENRY HUGH-SMITH


The oldest crew member and Blesmas national chairman is Colonel Henry Hugh-Smith, 72, ex-commanding officer of the Blues and Royals and the Duke of Edinburghs former equerry. He lost his right arm after being shot in Northern Ireland. He said: It is a privilege to lead these men from serious injury to something they never realised they could do.



sarah.arnold@sundaymirror.co.uk

Amputee boy who is a little Billy Elliot

By Aidan Mcgurran 8/05/2009



Four-year-old boy takes up ballet after losing limbs through meningitis
Harvey Phillips, who lost both his legs and one arm after suffering from meningitis, has defied the odds to take up ballet lessons.

Published: 2:26PM BST 07 May 2009

The ballet classes have improved Harvey's posture and are also helping him walk on his new prosthetic limbs Photo: MASONS
Harvey, from Louth, Lincolnshire, had his lower legs, right arm and fingers on his left hand amputated in 2005 when he was just nine months-old.

His mother Lisa Phillips, 34, feared he would never be able to run around with friends or enjoy music and dance.


But Harvey proved her wrong after watching his older sister Kayla, five, at her local ballet class.

He was so determined to take part that he took to the dance floor without the aid of traditional prosthetic limbs.

Now he is able to run, jump and twirl using custom-made plastic caps to protect his legs.

The ballet classes have improved his posture and are also helping him walk on his new prosthetic limbs.




Mrs Phillips said Harvey has never been happier.

"He wants to try everything. He doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'no'," she said.

"He's in his element when he's being active and dancing. He's totally comfortable in his own body.

"And if he can't do things the way his friends do it, he'll find his own way of doing things. 'I'll do it my way,' he tells me.

"I'm so proud of him. I always knew he'd have to fight hard all his life but I'm happy in the knowledge that he's ready for that fight."

When he was three years-old doctors made a permanent incision across the palm of his left hand so he could hold his crayons, pens, toys and his spoon.

He was later enrolled in a mainstream school, where he has excelled – especially with his handwriting.

Harvey became so independent that he began going to weekly ballet classes last November, where he takes part with other able-bodied children his age.

He now dances on 'stump caps' rather than his full-sized prosthetic legs, which he says gets in the way.







Harvey's dance teacher, Nicky Wright, of Studio 2000, in Louth, said Harvey was coping well with her lessons.

"We were all a little bit apprehensive when he first started and we've been very careful about how we were describing things," she said.

"We knew it would be a challenge but I think we've found ways to overcome these things by exaggerating the use of the head.

"I think he's coping nicely. He smiles continuously so he must be OK with everything."

Harvey will always need a one-to-one helper at school, but Lisa said he is becoming more independent every day.

"The name Harvey means battleworthy, and that's exactly what his is," she added.

Haiti amputees face dire quest for prosthetics

JoNel Aleccia
Health writer


Prosthetics groups promise help in a land where disability can mean death



Jon Warren
Doctors at Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani, Dominican Republic, had to amputate 4-year-old Schneily Similien’s lower leg because of injuries suffered in the Haiti earthquake. His father, Ducarmel Similien, says he will do whatever it takes to get a prosthetic leg for his boy.



Haiti struggles to recover
The island is devastated by a deadly earthquake and dozens of aftershocks.
more photos




How to help

List of charities, organizations
Click here for a list of links to relief organizations and discuss ways you can help those in need in Haiti.
By JoNel Aleccia
Health writer
msnbc.com
updated 5:30 a.m. PT, Thurs., Jan. 28, 2010




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By the time 4-year-old Schneily Similien’s parents got him to a doctor, it was too late to save his left leg.



The Haitian boy was hurt in the Jan. 12 magnitude-7 earthquake that killed at least 200,000 people and injured at least that many more. As the ground shook his family’s Port-au-Prince home, pieces of concrete ceiling came down on Schneily and his mother, Darline Similien, a 37-year-old kindergarten teacher. One large chunk crushed the child’s leg.

But after five days of searching in vain for medical care, the family had to travel to Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani, about 45 miles away in the Dominican Republic. There, doctors had to choose between preserving the boy’s limb — or saving his life.



“I would rather have my son with one leg than to not have my son at all,” Schneily’s father, Ducarmel Similien, a 40-year-old carpenter, said through an interpreter for World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization who relayed the story to msnbc.com. World Vision workers have been providing basic supplies to quake victims and volunteering in medical clinics at the Haitian border.


Jon Warren
“I would rather have my son with one leg than to not have my son at all,” said Ducarmel Similien. He and Scott McGough, a volunteer physical therapist from Dallas, steady 4-year-old Schneily Similien’s as he learns to walk on crutches.
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Schneily is among growing numbers of earthquake amputees created by the disaster. Estimates of amputations have varied dramatically — from a few thousand to more than 110,000, according to agency reports. There's no reliable count amid the chaos so far, but even the most conservative disaster workers say more than 75 people a day have lost limbs since the quake, either because of initial injuries or because of secondary infections and gangrene.

“This is already an unusually high number of amputations even for this kind of an earthquake,” said Wendy Batson, executive director of Handicap International, an aid group with global experience helping amputees and other disabled people. Her organization expects to see as many as 4,000 amputees when final counts are done.

In past quakes of similar magnitude, amputees have numbered in the hundreds, not in the thousands, Batson said. But the carnage in Port-au-Prince has been worse, partly because the quake was centered near the city of 2 million, partly because of erratic building construction standards, and partly because so many health and aid agencies were destroyed by the tremors.

Largest-ever loss of limbs?
The rising toll has triggered a call to action for prosthetics manufacturers and suppliers and amputee advocates in the U.S., who say the incident may represent the largest-ever loss of limbs in a single natural disaster.

“We’ve seen many amputees, but nowhere near the magnitude of this,” said Ivan R. Sabel, chairman of Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics, the largest supplier in the U.S. “These folks are going to need ongoing care.”

Already, aid groups are raising money, collecting donations of used prosthetics and making plans to send teams of doctors, limb fitters and physical therapists to Haiti.

Last weekend, more than 300 cars loaded with wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and artificial limbs lined up in a parking lot at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., where organizers for the agency Physicians for Peace collected the mobility devices to be refurbished and sent to Haiti, said Ron Sconyers, the group’s president and chief executive.

“A gentleman came by and had tears in his eyes,” recalled Sconyers. “He said, ‘My wife died last month; this is her wheelchair. I know it will help someone have a better life.’”


On the ground in Port-au-Prince, Healing Hands for Haiti, a non-governmental organization with a decade of experience in the country, may be forced to rapidly double or triple its capacity to provide help for a disabled population that numbered 800,000 even before the quake.

“We’re going as fast as our feet can carry us,” said Eric Doubt, the agency’s executive director.



Helping Haiti amputees
Some groups aiding quake victims:
Handicap International: Co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for work with land mine victims, the agency conducts 250 programs in 60 countries. The group has been working in Haiti since 2008.
Amputee Coalition of America: Provides resources and education for amputees in the U.S. and around the world.
Healing Hands for Haiti: Aid agency has worked for more than a decade providing help for 800,000 disabled Haitians.
Physicians for Peace: Provides medical education and training in developing countries, including Haiti.
Prosthetic Center of Excellence in Las Vegas, Nevada is accepting used braces, bracing, orthotics, as well as prosthetics and will ship to a clearing house in Haiti.
American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association: National trade association of manufacturers and suppliers of braces and artificial limbs.
Prosthetics Outreach Foundation: Helps amputees in the developing world gain mobility.
Legs for All: LeTourneau University program that helps clinics in developing countries produce inexpensive, durable prosthetics locally.
Limbs for Life Foundation: Helping re-establish prosthetic supply and distribution for Haiti in the Dominican Republic.



Healing first, then prosthetics
It’s still too early for earthquake victims to receive artificial limbs, said Pat Chelf, a board member for the Amputee Coalition of America, an education and advocacy group. Under the best circumstances, amputation injuries take a month or more to heal, and the conditions in Haiti are anything but the best.

Some patients had limbs sheared by the force of collapsed buildings or falling debris. Others had to sacrifice arms and legs when rescuers couldn’t free them any other way. Others lost fractured limbs because infection set in before they could be properly repaired.

In some cases, emergency operations were performed with chainsaws, with none of the usual thought about preserving nerves, flesh and function.

“There’s no way that these people had their surgical intervention optimized,” Chelf said.

From initial fittings and supply of prosthetics to ongoing adjustments, repairs and replacements, the demand for artificial limbs will be intense, expensive — and long-lasting, said Chelf.

Each device could cost between $4,000 and $6,000 per amputee, Chelf estimated. In the U.S., a new amputee can expect a minimum of four fittings a year to make sure the device is comfortable and works properly. In addition, several physical therapy sessions are necessary to help patients learn to adjust the way they walk and other body movements to use the new limbs.

“You have to be taught to use the device,” Chelf said. “You don’t just put it on and go.”

Some groups plan to make it easier and cheaper for amputees in Haiti and other developing countries to get limbs by setting up small shops where prosthetics can be made locally instead of being sent from abroad.

“For us, the issue is, when we walk away from this, it’s a long-lasting effect,” said Roger Gonzalez, executive director of Legs for All, a prosthetics development project at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas.

An engineering professor, Gonzalez has created a durable, easy-to-make artificial leg that is fashioned of hard plastic and can be repaired with nuts and bolts from a hardware store. It costs about $15 to make, compared to about $2,000 for the cheapest leg in the U.S., and it can withstand the rugged geography and the dirt, heat and humidity of a place like Haiti.

“You have to have a knee that’s pretty robust,” says Gonzalez, who already operates programs in Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and Senegal.

Disabled can become pariahs
Making prosthetics cheap, repairable and widely available will be the only way to prevent Haitian amputees from becoming additional casualties of the killer quake. In a country where life is harsh at best, the disabled are often regarded as economic burdens and social pariahs, said Eric Doubt of Healing Hands for Haiti.

“The disabled and handicapped are pretty much neglected and abandoned,” he said.

That’s a view echoed by Schneily Similien’s father, who is just starting to contemplate his son’s future.

“There is a stigma with losing a limb; people tend not to take into account the needs of disabled people and it changes your life,” Ducarmel Similien told World Vision. “They don’t consider you a whole person.”



NYT: World of chaos envelops Haiti's children
A world away, foster parents hold out hope
Disaster do-gooders can actually hinder help
Read more news from Haiti


Acquiring replacement limbs may well be a matter of survival for children like Schneily as well as adults who lost arms or legs in the earthquake’s aftermath. Doctors in Jimani have told Schneily’s parents it could take up to three months to acquire a prosthetic leg for the boy. The parents say they’ll do whatever it takes to get one.

“I don’t want to think about the difficulties he might face right now,” the child’s father said. “He will have to work hard, but it’s already done. We just have to accept it and move on.”

© 2010 msnbc.com

By MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT


Published: Friday, August 21, 2009 at 3:36 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 21, 2009 at 3:36 p.m.




There was a point a few days after Lucky the turtle had his front legs chewed to bloody stumps when his owner was ready to let him “go home.”

Beyond the violent assault, he'd lost a lot of blood and was now bandaged and shot up with pain medications and antibiotics.

Sally Pyne, 60, thought maybe her Lucky had endured enough.

But after finding a resourceful veterinarian with lots of reptile experience, and inspired by the feisty turtle's own vigor, Pyne, an in-home care provider, decided the pet deserved a second chance, even if it meant a $900 bill.

Lucky is now back home and living it up, thanks to four plastic discs of the sort usually applied to chair and table legs affixed to his breast plate with double-sided tape.

The sliders, stacked two high, raise his shell to its proper level and allow him to scoot wherever he wants, powered by his back legs.

“I was ready to let little Lucky go home, but Lucky, he was not ready to give up. His eyes were open, and he was shoving himself around on his two back legs. He was not going to quit.”

North Bay Veterinary Clinic surgeon Robert Jereb said the turtle “was not showing that he was dying.” He amputated what was left of Lucky's front legs then conceived of the chair slider fix.

Box turtles normally live several decades, and this one remained vivacious despite his injuries, Jereb said.

“It wasn't a death sentence to be missing his front legs because he was so active using his hind legs and his mouth,” he said.

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Lucky has lived with Pyne and her roommate, Robert Campbell, in their Petaluma home for about three years along with a menagerie that includes a female box turtle named Lovey, six cats and three snakes.

Until the July 31 attack, the turtle companions enjoyed a natural summer habitat enclosed by an 8-inch wire mesh fence filled with succulents, trees and a spineless berry bush, and measuring about 12-by-16-feet. They had a pond, a “hot box,” brick houses and plenty of places to bury themselves in the dirt.

Pyne thinks, however, leaving food out for a cat that had recently adopted the household brought a raccoon prowling, one she'd seen around the yard before Lucky's injury.

She doesn't know for sure, but believes the raccoon is to blame for injurying Lucky, which was found one Saturday afternoon bloodied under a rose bush.

A key question is why Lucky — whose species is named for its ability to enclose itself entirely within its shell — was vulnerable to the attack in the first place, Pyne and Jereb said.

Lovey had no sign of injury. Lucky, Jereb said, may have some kind of shell deformity that prevented him from boxing up. It's also possible he was overweight and unable to withdraw entirely into his shell.

Pyne was referred to Jereb, who has worked on an assortment of animals over the years, including numerous turtles and tortoises whose shells are sometimes repaired with fiberglass, acrylic, Bondo, epoxies and other inorganic substances.

His approach to Lucky's problem was inspired in part by a tortoise about whom he'd read that had a front leg replaced by a halved billiard ball glued to its front shell.

For Lucky, Jereb was thinking more along the lines of PVC pipe but was browsing for materials at a hardware store when he stumbled on the quarter-sized sliders or gliders he ultimately used.

The discs may later be glued on, though so far the tape seems to be working. If Lucky sluffs off shell surface, the discs may need periodic replacement.

When he's healthier, he also will likely require more surgery to trim back some leg bone that's poking into the skin from his shoulder socket.

For the time being, he's getting antibiotic injections every three days.

Pyne says the turtle gets around so well, “I think he thinks he's walking. I don't think he realizes he doesn't have the use of his arms,” she said.

He is somewhat slower than he was, however, and Lovey — at least for the moment — seems to be enjoying one key change in her companion's behavior after years of amorous conduct that's kept her on the run.

“Now Lucky doesn't chase her around and try to make babies any more,” Pyne said.

Turbo charged: Disabled Stillwater Area High School student named to World Cup Power Soccer Championship squad

By Mary Jellison - Special to the Gazette
Published: Monday, January 18, 2010 12:57 PM CST
When the National Power Soccer Association announced the roster of its 2009 Team USA members, Pete Winslow's excitement meter blew a gasket. "I made the cut!" exclaimed the 15-year-old athlete.

His goal now? To defend the United States' hard-fought title, World Cup Team Champions, when the next international competition takes place in 2011. The last World Cup Power Soccer Championship was held in 2007 in Tokyo, Japan.

A lofty goal for one so young?

"Hardly," said Pete's dad, Herb Winslow, only a single word and quiet cadence needed to reveal a father's pride in his son. "Pete brings a lot of talent, drive and team spirit to whatever he does."

Drive has always been a part of the Winslow family, residents of Woodbury.

Before Herb and his wife Carolyn adopted Pete as an infant, "We visited Courage Center to research the options available to individuals and families dealing with disabilities. Until Pete came into our lives, we'd had no experience in this area. With its vast network of resources and knowledgeable professionals, Courage Center gave us the confidence to know we could navigate these new waters," Herb said.

Pete had been born without legs, a right arm that ends below the elbow, and a left arm that ends in a hand with three fingers. Today, he uses his powerful left arm, his impressive upper body strength, a wickedly maneuverable power wheelchair and personal drive, marshalling all of his attributes to test as many life experiences as he possibly can and to excel at the ones he chooses.

"Courage Center has been giving me options my entire life," Pete said with a smile. "I started at 5 or 6 in the swimming program, then later added weight training in the fitness program, and have participated in, let's see, basketball, Frisbee, baseball, football, track and field and now, because I've been driving a power chair since second grade, power soccer."

"And Pete plays the trombone in the top jazz band at Stillwater High School," his dad slipped in.

"It's sort of tough not to," jokes Pete. "I come from a musical family. My dad plays for the Minnesota Orchestra, and four of my five brothers and sisters all played instruments. I found I could play the trombone using a prosthetic arm, and it works fine."

Pete also credits his siblings for instilling his passion for sports. "They all play, so I do, too."

Pete only discovered power soccer three years ago, so he readily admits he still has a lot to learn.

"But learning is where the fun is, isn't it?" he said. "I'd tell anyone who is thinking about power soccer or any other sport, go slow. Come watch it first. Then, if you want, you can suit up in the gear and give it a try. Go slow, yes; but go! Give it a try."

Jazz band practice three times a week after school, personal practice at home, power soccer practices, week-long soccer camps at Camp Courage in the summer, and travel to soccer competitions around the country (he's been to Arizona, Indiana and Georgia) make Pete one busy guy. But he still takes time to keep up with friends.

"Pete's participation in sports, particularly power soccer, through Courage Center has enabled him to develop personal relationships here at home and all across the country," Herb said of his son. "These guys are on Facebook all the time, and, when they meet for an event, say, in Atlanta, they all know what's happening in each other's lives up to the minute. They care, and they're connected."

Added Pete: "Athletes with disabilities share a special bond. We understand each other and the challenges we deal with. We can say to each other - and to others, too - 'Just try.' Don't get me wrong: I have terrific friends at school, too. But there are some experiences you have to share to understand. That shared bond is pretty amazing."

The whole process - connecting with Courage Center, participating in its programs, discovering power soccer and making the Team USA roster - "has been amazing," said Herb.

"Carolyn and I have watched Pete grow and mature in many ways, from taking responsibility to schedule his time, to developing team and leadership skills. Something like this prepares Pete for more than international competition; it helps prepare him for life," he said.




Courage Center has been named a Paralympics Site for a number of sports. To learn more about Courage Center and its many programs and services, among them a vast array of Sports and Recreation programs, call 763-588-0811 or visit www.CourageCenter.org.

Children with Diabetes, You Are My True Inspiration

Jay Hewitt
Mar 4, 2009

I was diagnosed with type 1 relatively late in life, at age 24. People sometimes remark to me, with genuine kindness, that it must have been harder on me. Perhaps they think I recall what it was like to be a "normal" child and young adult, to do and eat what I wanted without insulin, checking blood sugar, or worrying about highs and lows or long-term complications. I appreciate their sincerity, but I always correct them. Diabetes is not harder for me. It is hard on everyone. Whether you were diagnosed as a child or an adult, it complicates your life and the lives of your family.

Nevertheless, children with diabetes and your families, you are my true inspiration. I meet and speak to thousands of you every year through my racing and motivational speaking around the U.S. You inspire me much more than I could ever inspire you. Trying to understand the changing world as a six-year-old child is hard enough. But having to check your blood sugar, inject insulin, and understand nutrition and exercise, when none of the other kids in school knows or cares what a carbohydrate is-Now that is impressive! You are a role model for other kids. They may never admit it, but they look up to you. It is impressive that you keep going, keep playing, and keep taking care of all the things you must, things that they never have to think about.

I have a two-year-old daughter. If she hurts, I hurt, and I will do anything to prevent it. Just keeping up with the normal child items, diapers, clothes, bottles, and food is a challenge. But parents who must approach their child multiple times a day with a syringe or make sure that an insulin pump stays on, who keep up with the meters and strips, who bring extra supplies and nutrition even for that quick errand, and who wonder in the middle of the night if their child is going low or high-they have to handle a whole other level of parenting.

Parents, you inspire me.

I am a big fan of diabetes camps. Each summer I am honored to spend time at Camp Joslin for boys (www.joslin.org), and the neighboring Camp Clara Barton for girls (www.bartoncenter.org) in Massachusetts. What fantastic places for a child with diabetes. Kids can be kids, play sports and activities, eat, learn, and make friends with other kids with diabetes, all under the 24-hour watchful eyes of doctors, nurses, and counselors from the world-renowned Joslin Diabetes Center and other medical centers in Boston. These kids get to feel that they finally fit in. They gain confidence that they can play sports, do anything, even be an Ironman triathlete, because they see others with diabetes doing it by controlling their diabetes in the right way. I've seen the nervous faces of parents dropping their child off, and their amazed faces when they pick them up days later. "This is not the same child," they say.

Each year at Camp Joslin I host a real swim-run biathlon, sponsored last year by the makers of the Omnipod insulin pump. Last year a six-year-old camper named Josh participated, a boy who had never imagined that he could swim, or run, or do anything like that. He was nervous. But on race day I watched him swim a quarter mile right next to me, then run a mile and cross the finish line to the cheers and roar of the crowd and his fellow campers. His life, and my life, was changed that day.

Another fantastic organization is Children with Diabetes (CWD) (www.childrenwithdiabetes.com), an online community for organizing events and sharing information and support for kids with diabetes and their parents. Each year, the makers of OneTouch glucose meters sponsor my appearance at CWD's Friends for Life conference. Last year 3,000 parents, kids with diabetes, and their brothers and sisters met in Orlando to make friends, attend theme parks, hear great speakers and doctors, and learn about the latest diabetes products and best practices. It is a great deal and wonderful atmosphere for kids to be kids and the whole family to relax, have fun, learn, and be inspired. I'll be there again this year from July 7th to 12th at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, and I would love to see you there.

Racing the Ironman with diabetes can be hard, and some days in a long workout or race I start to wonder if I can keep going. But I think about the kids with diabetes who may be watching me, and their parents who do so much to take care of them, and I am inspired. Thank you, kids and parents, for inspiring me. You are my heroes.

Richard "Dick" Nickle strives to enjoy retirement fully — swimming laps, kayaking, biking or traveling with his wife, Barbara.

"I want to live life to the fullest," the former Cumberland Valley High School principal said. His next sentence catches some off guard: "And I want to inspire other amputees to do the same."

Unless he’s wearing shorts that show off his prosthetic leg or swimming, which finds his "leg" waiting poolside, it’s not apparent that Nickle is an amputee. Neither his gait nor his attitude calls attention to his disability.

"There is life after amputation. Especially with advances in prosthetics, you can live a productive life," said Nickle, 68, whose prosthetic leg has a vacuum system that pumps air out for comfort and better fit. "There was a time when amputees just went home and that was it, life was done. Not anymore."

About 1.7 million people in the United States are living without a limb, according to the National Limb Loss Information Center. The majority of new amputations occur due to complications of the vascular system, especially from diabetes.

Nickle lost his leg in 2000 when a drunken driver coming home from a Super Bowl party hit him as he was clearing snow around his mailbox. He underwent a 10-hour surgery at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center that left him with 300 stitches in his head, a metal rod in his right leg and a left leg that ended halfway between his knee and ankle. It took him nearly a year to recover.

Both despair and hope stand out in his mind from that time.

"I was overwhelmed and not sure what was going to happen," the South Middleton Township resident said. "I had always been a person who had some type of control over what I was doing, and here I was, quite helpless."

But he also remembers a man at his bedside who danced a jig and then took off a prosthetic leg and held it up for Nickle to see. At the time, Nickle thought he must be hallucinating from medication.

"The whole thing seemed surreal, but it sent me a message that there was still life after amputation; it gave me hope," Nickle said. A year later, at a meeting of the Amputee Support Team of Central Pennsylvania, Nickle met Mark Leonard, the man who had indeed danced a jig to inspire him to live.

"That implanted in my mind the idea of going out and visiting other amputees. Having support is critical to a person’s recovery," said Nickle, who credits his wife’s encouragement with helping him adjust to life as an amputee. The two are trained peer visitors with the Amputee Coalition of America, even making visits to other states.

"We’re pretty adaptable. We just didn’t let it bother us that much," said Barbara Nickle.

"There are lots of ups and downs, but it does get easier. Losing a leg does not mean that somebody is any less of a person," said Jake Schrom, 21, a Penn State University student from South Middleton Township. His right leg was amputated above the knee last year after a work-related traffic accident.

Schrom, who has a prosthetic leg, said having a goal to work toward makes recovery easier. "Mine was to get back to normal as soon as possible so that I wouldn’t make it hard on my family and girlfriend," he said. "My next goal was to finish my education and get back to work and maybe one day make the Paralympics."

Schrom, who is a Paralympic powerlifter and competes at international events, went back to work as a landscape contractor for his family’s business last spring. "Some tasks were much tougher and needed to be done slightly slower or differently, but I was working nonetheless," said Schrom, who leads the Nittany Valley Amputee Support Group.

Peter Calcagno lost his arm, just below the elbow, to a malignant tumor 62 years ago. Now 80, the Camp Hill resident said it’s surprising how much a person can adapt to doing things with just one arm — like tying a shoe or riding a bike — if the spirit is there to try.

Calcagno doesn’t wear a prosthetic arm because he didn’t find it to be very comfortable or functional. Although he says his lack of an arm cost him job offers initially, he became a successful engineer and eventually owned a business. He married and had two children.

"You have to be motivated to not let it get you down," he said.

Without downplaying the months of therapy it took to heal and the adjustments he’s had to make in his daily routine, Nickle stresses that he can do just about everything he did before he lost his leg.

"It could get the best of you if you let it, but I don’t have time to be bitter," he said. "There’s too much living left to do."

SUPPORT FOR AMPUTEES

ABOUT THE TEAM: The Amputee Support Team of Central Pennsylvania is dedicated to education, peer support and resource sharing. It meets locally every other month and has chapters in Scranton, State College and Lancaster.

WHAT THEY DO: Peer visitors meet with new and fellow amputees to encourage them and help them make decisions on rehabilitation, physical therapy and prosthetics.

INFORMATION: Contact group president Dick Nickle at 258-6849. Or visit www.amputeesupportteam.com.

Andrew Bateson: An 'Up and Running' Miracle

By Renelle Richardson







Andrew Bateson is an active 14-year-old. He’s a whiz on the ice and on his bike.

“[For] my dirt bike, I have a Honda,” says Andrew. “I like that because it flies. It goes really fast! I just like hitting the jumps and being in the air.

“Some people treat me differently, and I really don’t like that. If I’m playing a sport they’ll be like, ‘You can sit down whenever you want.’ I want them to be hard on me like the regular kids so when I get older I’ll learn to push myself.”

Andrew lost both of his legs when he was six years old. His parents, Scott and Rebecca, remember just how they felt when they learned that their son would have to endure a double amputation.

“What had I done that God made this happen,” asks Scott. “I guess that was my reaction at first. I must have done something wrong, and this is His way of punishing me because this would be the ultimate way to punish a parent.”

On July 3, 1997, Andrew complained he was hot and tired. The next morning, his parents noticed tiny scratch-like marks on his chest. Rebecca recalls, “The scratches became blotches, and then the blotches moved up and down his chest. They were all on his legs. I was literally watching him turn purple in front of our eyes.”

Bruises developed under Andrew’s skin and began to spread. Scott and Rebecca rushed him to Rhode Island hospital.

Dr. James Linakis was first on the scene in the pediatric emergency room.
“I knew exactly what it was,” says Dr. Linakis. “I’ve seen children die within a matter of hours of the time of presentation.”

Andrew had bacterial meningitis, an infection of the blood and the lining that surrounds the brain. It’s still a mystery just how he contracted the often fatal illness.

“When I heard the word bacterial meningitis, my first feeling was of helplessness,” says Rebecca. “As a mother, your reaction is to want to protect your child. As time went on I realized that this was beyond any miracle lips I had. There was no way I could kiss these boo-boos away.”

Doctors and nurses worked round-the-clock to keep Andrew alive…

“You pray that he lives,” says Scott. “That was really the main prayer that I had at the time. 'Please let my son live. Don’t take him away. He’s too young.'”

Andrew lied in a coma for 23 days. Bacteria set off a toxic reaction in his body, and he went in to kidney failure.

Then doctors realized that no blood was circulating in his legs. They presented Scott and Rebecca with only one option: both legs would have to be amputated.

“Here’s my son at six years old going to be in a wheelchair,” says Scott. “He’s going to be watching his friends play. All I could see was my son sitting there in a wheelchair being unhappy. At that point, I was without a plan.”

Family, friends and neighbors took turns praying for Andrew, but to doctors, the situation looked grim.

Dr. Linakis says, “I’ve never seen a child who had that degree of a rash -- with that kind of progression -- survive this disease.”

“I put everything I had into prayer that God was going to help Andrew,” says Scott.

Their church held a prayer and healing service just for Andrew, and on the day of his amputation surgery, Andrew’s lead surgeon gave his parent the news they had been waiting for! Andrew, though still in a coma, would definitely survive!

The young athlete awoke to the realization that he had lost both of his legs.
As Andrew regained his strength, he endured countless hours of physical therapy. Then came the big day. After more than three months in hospital, Andrew went home!

But the homecoming was bittersweet as the six-year-old adjusted to life without legs.









Fast forward eight years. Andrew’s back enjoying the sports he loves! He took a break to show us just how his legs work.




“The first thing that I do in the morning is I get my silicones, which is a rubber type material,” says Andrew. “When I apply it to my leg it sticks on to it. Then there is a pin at the bottom of my leg. I take the leg -- there is a hole at the bottom -- and I have to line the pin with the hole. Then when you hear that (click) noise that means it’s in.”

Scott says, “He just amazes me with some of the things that he goes out and does. He doesn’t think about his legs getting in the way. If he had a problem, he seems to work around it, and he finds a way to do it.”

“What I’ve learned from God is that you can put your faith in Him 100 percent, and He will give you back 100 percent,” Rebecca says. “He was just as unhappy and sad over what happened with Andrew as we were. But He has come forth and given us strength to be the family we are today.”

Since his time in the hospital, Andrew has received a lot of community support. In fact, when local journalist Mark Patinkin picked up on Andrew’s story, he thought he would just write a column about the family’s ordeal. However, when he learned of the Bateson’s tremendous faith and reliance on prayer, he decided instead to write a book – Up and Running.

“When I say I wove faith through this book, it wasn’t just to chronicle faith as a source of comfort to the family,” says Mark. “What struck me -- and still strikes me to this day -- is how faith seemed to play a tangible role even in the medical outcome. I’m not even sure how to fully explain it. I’m a secular journalist. But I will sit here and tell you there was evidence that God’s hand somehow touched this situation.”

Yoga for the Lower Limb Amputee: Breathing Exercises

The increasingly popular practice of yoga offers something for everyone; if you’re an amputee, it can be especially helpful for reducing stress, becoming comfortable in your body, decreasing back pain (often associated with wearing a prosthetic), improving strength and flexibility, and enhancing mood and energy levels. This 5,000-year-old body of knowledge that originated in India includes physical poses, breathing techniques, and meditation. Ultimately, yoga—which means union—harmonizes our body, mind, and spirit.


The first of this two-part series offers two breathing exercises designed to help focus the mind, oxygenate the body, and release toxins. Proper breathing also cultivates energy and reduces stress and fatigue. The second article will introduce a series of yoga poses designed to address the common concerns of lower limb amputees: improving balance, reducing stress, bringing awareness into the body, helping to alleviate back pain, and stretching and strengthening muscles.


When practicing yoga, treat your body with compassion, and never hold a pose if it becomes painful or even uncomfortable. If you meet and accept your body where it is at, you will gradually reap the full benefits of yoga—a calm and focused mind and strong and flexible body.


Certified yoga instructor and below-the-knee amputee Marsha Therese Metzger recommends practicing with your prosthetic on—her prosthesis, she says, becomes part of her when she puts it on each morning. Although you may choose to practice without your prosthetic, wearing it may help to hold and contain your limb.


Yogic Breathing Exercises
Yogic breathing exercises promote proper breathing to ensure an adequate oxygen supply to the entire body, including the organs, and especially to the brain. Proper breathing also helps the body rid itself of waste products and toxins.


Basic Yogic Breathing Exercises
All yoga is based on staying connected to your breath, and this basic exercise will help you “connect” with your most elemental physical being.








Three-Part Breath (above)
(Strengthens breathing muscles, calms the mind, and focuses attention on the present moment.)






Alternate Nostril Breathing (above)
This more-advanced breathing exercise integrates the right and left hemispheres of the brain, improves efficiency of breathing, reduces stress.

• Come to a comfortable seated position, Easy Pose or in a chair with your feet resting solidly on the floor, hip width apart.
• Tuck the index and third fingers of your right hand into the palm.
• Place your right thumb lightly on your right nostril; place your right index finger lightly on your left nostril.
• Block off the right nostril with your thumb and inhale through the left nostril.
• Block off the left nostril with your index finger and exhale through the right nostril.
• Inhale through the right nostril, block it off with the thumb, and exhale through the right nostril.
• Repeat sequence, inhaling through left, exhaling right, inhaling right, and exhaling left.
• Continue for five rounds, increasing as you feel comfortable up to 10 minutes.

Thanksgiving

In light of The Thanksgiving Holiday this week, I wanted to post something a little different. Please feel free to post your own inspirational story as well. and since a picture is worth a thousand words, please share whatever the following pictures inspire you to share. Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for the daily opportunity to share my life with so many wonderful people through the internet!



















Thanksgiving is the time to feel gratitude for all the good things in life. It is a time to acknowledge the good deeds of fellowmen and be thankful. Thanksgiving thoughts of people give us an insight as to what people feel about it.

Life can be very trying. When your child is hungry, your body wracked with pain, or you have no idea where you and your family will find a place to sleep, pay your rising bills, or make ends meet, it's hard to find something for which you can be thankful. So, for just a few minutes on Thanksgiving Day, step outside your situation and just "be". Find something, no matter how small, to be thankful for because in giving thanks, you will be lightening your load, even if for only a moment


People in Europe were living in squalid conditions, battling hunger and the aftermath of the plague, were being terrorized in the name of religion and came to America, the land of opportunity, in the hopes of building a new and better life. These immigrants, called Pilgrims, were welcomed by the inhabitants of America, the Indians, who were hospitable to the newcomers in every sense of the word. How is it then that the descendants of the Pilgrims managed to take over all the land in America and banish the Indians to hot, arid reservations in the middle of nowhere? Somehow, that has never felt right to me. Do the Indians celebrate Thanksgiving?


Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. (Estonian proverb)


Thanksgiving thoughts are the kind of thoughts that we should have all year long. For it is the folks with thankful hearts whose lives are filled with song. We should take time for kindness to those we hold most dear,and just extend a helping hand to others through the year. Let's set aside some quiet time and share it with a friend. For friendships brings a special joy and pleasure without end. So may the blessings of this day that I would ask for you, now fill you with Thanksgiving Peace that lasts the whole year through!

Heart of a Champion: The Story of Jean Driscoll

Jean was born in Milwaukee, WI with spina bifida (an open spine). It affected her ability to walk and included other neurological complications as well. Although there were challenges during childhood, her determination to get the most out of life was always there. She began using a wheelchair at the age of 15 and after learning about wheelchair sports from a high school friend, she started pursuing athletic opportunities with fervor. The Milwaukee Public Schools Division of Recreation provided her first wheelchair sports experiences. After being recruited to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, world-renowned coaches developed her into one of the world’s most successful competitors.

During her career, Jean was the first eight time winner of the Boston Marathon. She set 5 new course records as well as 5 world best times and has held Boston’s fastest time in the women’s wheelchair division since 1990. It currently stands at 1 hour, 34 minutes and 22 seconds for the 26.2 mile distance. In addition to her success in Boston, Jean also won two Olympic medals, 12 Paralympic medals, and still holds the world record in the 10,000 meter (6.2 mile) track event that was set during the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Jean remains the only 12–time champion of the Lilac Bloomsday 12K Road Race held in Spokane, Washington and still owns the course record in her division from 1995.

Her successes have been celebrated by many. The University of Rhode Island and the Massachusetts School of Law awarded her Honorary Doctorate degrees in 1997 and 2002 respectively. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines provided Jean with one of its highest honors in 2003 when they named her the Godmother of their Voyager Class Series ship, Mariner of the Seas. She is also in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ “Hall of Champions.” and the Wheelchair Sports, USA Hall of Fame.

Jean retired from her successful racing career following the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia. For over 20 years, she has offered encouragement and motivation as a speaker to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Through a partnership that began in 2001 with Joni and Friends, Inc., Jean began working with people who have disabilities in Ghana, West Africa. Her alma mater, the University of Illinois, has caught the vision and is now supporting this work as well. In addition to motivational speaking, Jean works as the Associate Director of Development for the College of Applied Health Sciences at the U of I.












Additional story on Jean Driscoll & The Easter Seals
















Jean Driscoll clearly remembers the first time she attended Easter Seals camp. It was the first time she didn’t feel different.

At home, Jean stood out among nondisabled friends and family. An 8-year-old with spina bifida, she used leg braces for mobility.

But at Easter Seals camp, Jean was surrounded by children with a variety of other disabilities -- many more challenging than her own. Suddenly she stood out not because of her disability, but because of her natural leadership abilities.

Counselors at Easter Seals Camp looked to Jean to assist and inspire other campers, which in turn boosted her confidence and self-esteem. For Jean, seeing herself as a leader was an important first step toward becoming a world-class athlete and an international advocate for people with disabilities.

Today, at age 36, Jean acknowledges, “I’ve done a lot in my life that most people only dream of.”

During her career as an elite wheelchair racer, Jean won the Boston Marathon eight times, the only person in the race’s 107-year history, in any division, to achieve that feat. She won two silver medals in Olympic exhibition events and 12 medals in the Paralympics, which are held two weeks after the Olympic Games in the same host city. Jean also holds several world records, and -- among her many honors and awards -- she was named one of the top 25 female athletes of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated for Women magazine.

Now retired from professional competition, Jean is focused on sharing her message about succeeding in all aspects of life. She also works to help others with disabilities benefit from the advantages sports can offer -- an endeavor that has taken Jean to the country of Ghana in West Africa, half a world away from Milwaukee, Wis., where she grew up and first learned to love athletics.

A Setback Followed by a Leap
Jean has spina bifida, a condition characterized by an incomplete closure of the spine at birth. Throughout most of her childhood, Jean was able to walk with leg braces.

A setback occurred during her freshman year in high school, when Jean dislocated her hip riding a bike. It was a serious injury that required five surgeries and a year in a full body cast.

Even after such measures, Jean’s hip became dislocated again. As a result, at age 15, Jean obtained her first wheelchair. Despite confidence gained at Easter Seals camp when she was younger, Jean became depressed. She saw a lifetime of limitations ahead of her.

A year later, Jean’s life took a leap forward when she reluctantly attended a wheelchair soccer practice. “It was real sport,” she recalls. “Wheelchairs were crashing into one another, and I loved the fact the coaches didn’t panic when players fell out of their chairs.”

From that point on, Jean couldn’t get enough of sports. She played soccer, ice hockey, tennis, and basketball and began to appreciate her wheelchair as a vital piece of equipment that enabled her to compete.

“It was like this whole world I’d been trying to get into suddenly opened up to me,” Jean says, “and, ironically, my wheelchair -- which I’d thought was so limiting -- was the key.”

From Recreation to Elite Athletic Competition
Jean’s athletic abilities eventually caught the attention of the University of Illinois, and she was recruited to play wheelchair basketball there. Seeing that Jean also excelled at track events, her college coach encouraged her to compete in marathons. Jean won her first national-level race in 1989 and from there began her professional sporting career.

Besides the rigors of training and the thrill of competing, Jean enjoyed another benefit of being involved in sports. Her attitudes about disability, as well as the attitudes of others, were profoundly affected. “I began to see my disability as a
characteristic, like my hair color,” she says. “My disability doesn’t define who I am.”

Sports can be a powerful vehicle for changing attitudes that limit people with disabilities, Jean found. “Our biggest limitations are the ones we place on ourselves, or that others place on us.”

Spreading the Message and Changing Lives
Today as a professional speaker and author, Jean addresses the topic of failure as much as success. She routinely speaks to corporations and organizations, and her book, Determined to Win, chronicles her story.

“What I try to help others understand is that failure is not the opposite of success, it is part of the process that leads to success,” Jean says. “For example, when you are sore after a workout, it’s because your muscles have developed tiny tears. Once repaired, the muscle is stronger than before. Likewise, after we experience failure, we are stronger, wiser and more prepared to take on life’s challenges.”

Remarkable Recovery: Neil Sullivan- Firefighter

A firefighter regains his strength and mobility
Neil Sullivan
Amputee












It's the love and support of family and friends - including the people of Spaulding - that have made Neil's long road back possible.

Background
In August of 2005, firefighter Neil Sullivan was badly injured when the brakes on a fire truck unexpectedly released, pinning him between two trucks. In spite of efforts to reattach one of his legs during lengthy emergency surgery, one of his legs had to be amputated in order to save his life.
After emerging from a coma, his family decided on Spaulding for his rehabilitative care.

Neil's Story
Jessica Sullivan, Neil's wife:
When Neil met his inpatient therapist Cara, the two immediately hit it off, becoming great friends. Somehow Cara managed to transform the drudgery of rehab sessions into something that was almost fun.
While at Spaulding Neil received a visit from six-year-old David Eustace, who had lost his left leg in a horrific car accident at his elementary school in Stoneham, Massachusetts. At Spaulding, David had learned how to once again run and play baseball with a prosthetic leg. Now he wanted to meet his hero, the fireman. David's enthusiastic attitude - and his racing around the hospital room - were a real inspiration to Neil.






After six-and-a-half weeks at Spaulding, on the day of our third anniversary, Neil came home to our new house, our new son Thomas, and me. He has since continued his rehab, at Spaulding with Allison, his outpatient therapist, who had a tough act to follow in Cara but has shown a similarly high level of dedication in working with Neil. Neil and I have learned that Cara, Allison and the other Spaulding therapists share an incredible passion for what they do. They truly enjoy working with patients and helping them get back into life.

I am so grateful for the treatment Neil has received from Spaulding. It's the love and support of family and friends - including the people of Spaulding - that have made Neil's long road back possible.

For more information:
Amputee Rehabilitation Program

DOUBLE AMPUTEE OFFERS EVERY RUNNER INSPIRATION

After losing his legs in an accident, Scott Rigsby forged new ground as a triathlete.

By John Perra

PUBLISHED 11/30/2007
At mile 23 on the marathon portion of Hawaii's Ford Ironman World Championships in October, Scott Rigsby was in so much pain that he fantasized about falling onto a stretcher. He'd completed the 2.4-mile swim, the 112-mile bike, and most of the 26.2-mile run. The double amputee's residual limbs were blistered, swollen, and chafed raw, making each step feel like his skin was pressing into the hot coals of the surrounding lava fields. But when he saw 16:13 on his watch, he realized he had no time to waste feeling sorry for himself if he wanted to finish before the 17-hour cutoff. So he picked up the pace.

"That was the most pain I've inflicted on myself," says Rigsby, 39, who lives in Atlanta. "I started saying, 'This is what you've worked so hard for. If you can do this, you can change the world.'"

Indeed, Rigsby was after more than just bragging rights. He was out to defy expectations and redefine the potential of disabled athletes by becoming the first double amputee in the world to complete an Ironman.





Road to Kona

Rigsby was an 18-year-old high school football player in July 1986, when an accident changed the course of his life. Riding in the back of a trailer that was clipped from behind by an 18-wheeler, Rigsby was dragged 328 feet, and eventually pinned under the trailer he was riding in. His right leg was immediately amputated--the first of 17 surgeries he would endure over the next year. Doctors said it would be 18 months before he could walk again, never mind run. "I went through a denial stage, thinking it was going to grow back," Rigsby said. "It was a difficult time."

Five years later, Rigsby began classes at the University of Georgia, where he started swimming and biking. But he wanted to run. "If you tell me I can't do something," he says, "I'm going to find a way to do it." One day he hit the track, but on his fourth lap, his left foot, which had been reconstructed, couldn't withstand the force, and the seam between his skin graphs tore. The setback hit Rigsby hard. "I felt like a prisoner to my 'good' leg," he says.

In the ensuing seven years, Rigsby finished college, worked a variety of jobs in sales and construction, and sank into a depression, for which he was eventually treated. Finally, in 1998, he decided to have his left leg amputated below the knee. "With my new prosthesis, I could resign from being a professional patient," he says. "I finally had two good legs."

Inspiration came in December 2004, when Rigsby read a Runner's World story about Sarah Reinertsen, the first female above-the-knee amputee to attempt the Hawaii Ironman. "I had never even done a triathlon, but when I realized that no double amputee had done an Ironman," says Rigsby, "I decided I'd go for it."

Barriers fell one by one. In 2006, Rigsby became the first double amputee to finish an Olympic-distance triathlon and a half-Ironman. In March 2007, he became the first to finish 26.2 miles at the ING Georgia Marathon, in a time of 5:04. Three months later, Rigsby went for his ultimate goal at the Ford Ironman Coeur D'Alene triathlon in Idaho. He crashed on the bike, however, and neck and back pain forced him to call it a day halfway through the marathon.

Rigsby's next chance would be in Hawaii. On October 13, temperatures in Kona were in the mid 80s and the humidity was oppressive. Friends at the finish were getting antsy, unsure whether Rigsby would make it before time ran out. At last they saw him come down Alii Drive and cross the line. His final time on the clock: 16 hours, 42 minutes, and 46 seconds.

"Some people who go through an amputation end up being so inactive that they're at risk for obesity, depression, and diabetes," says Rigsby's training partner, Mike Lenhart, who runs the Getting2Tri Foundation. "Scott provides courage and inspiration to people and shows them their potential."

Realizing the impact he can have on others, in January 2007, Rigsby founded his own nonprofit organization to provide physically challenged athletes with coaching and mentoring support. "Once you accomplish something, it's easy to ride the wave of success and have your 15 minutes of fame," Rigsby says. "I want to stay the course and show people that you can take the life that God gave you and use it to do something extraordinary."

"Maybe other people--both able-bodied and amputees--can look at me and say, 'you know what? Life is tough, but if this guy can make it, then I can make it.'

Jarem Frye: Audacious Invention

By Morgan Stanfield

When Jarem Frye pushes off the chair lift and glides down a black-diamond slope, you can tell he's good. His knees bend rhythmically under a powerful set of quads in the unmistakable two-step of an expert telemark skier. He's measured and smooth, carving sprayless white tracks, bombing toward a ski jump below. He launches off it, cuts the air with a high backflip, lands in an explosion of powder, and disappears downhill. When you catch him at the bottom of the slope, he's taking a break. He pulls up the left cuff of his ski pants and twists off his left leg, dropping his boot, titanium calf, and self-invented left knee on the hardpack with a thunk. He looks up and grins.

Sixteen years ago, Frye was an 85-pound 14-year-old in a Utah Shriners Hospital, looking down at his natural left leg for the last time. He had osteosarcoma and had decided after spending more than a year in and out of hospitals that his best chance for an active life was amputation. His doctors told him that with a transfemoral amputation, he wouldn't be able to run, bike, ski, or rock climb. Snowboardinghis dreamwas out of the question. The hospital's poster-child for amputee athletic achievement was a boy who had walked just half a mile with his prosthetic leg. Frye would be given a four-bar knee and a SACH foot and supposedly go home to a life of similar achievements. He never swallowed that. He told The O&P EDGE , "The amputation didn't really change my plans for my life, and at the time, all I wanted to do was race mountain bikes." Immediately after the amputation, his parents bought him a new mountain bike, and using a clipless pedal, he rode more than 600 miles on it before receiving his prosthesis.

Frye says, "I understood that the doctors were telling me the current standards for what an above-knee amputee could do, but I also had the resourcefulness to find ways to do what everybody said I couldn't do. I had my own ideas about what I could do, or what I would be able to substitute doing." He soon discovered that with his simple prostheses, he could not only mountain bike, but runalbeit with a muscle-wrenching gait. Rock climbing was too dangerous to be worth it. Snowboarding was impossible, but thanks to the National Abilities Center, Park City, Utah, he learned to downhill ski and joined its three-track racing team. Frye showed his prosthetist what he could do and begged him to lobby Shriners for an energy-storing foot.






Photograph courtesy of Colin Botts.
Frye says, "At the time, it was ridiculous, like a 14-year-old asking for Paralympic-quality equipment. Meanwhile, I kept breaking everything that they had already bought me, so I was costing them a lot of money." Within three months, they sent the foot.

After high school, Frye started working at a ski resort. To his friends' scoffing, he decided to try telemarking. He realized that it was simply impossible to achieve its bent-knee stance without active lower-leg support .

Frye says, "To me, the only time that I was disabled was when I was unable to do something. When people said that I couldn't telemark, it became a quest to prove I could. I started analyzing my equipment to find out why it wasn't possible and to figure out how I could tweak things or completely reinvent them specifically for telemarking." He continues, "My Christmas presents from the time I was ten years old were things like grinders and forgesbuilding things was what I was most interested inso I didn't begin to think I couldn't build something."





With a year of continuous work, he created a Frankenstein's monster of an energy-storing knee, cobbling on parts, grinding it, and tuning it. Using the knee, Frye became the world's first person with a transtibial amputation to telemark. Deciding to reinvent the knee from scratch, he rigged another prosthesis frame with a shock-absorbing system made from cast-iron pipe and a car's valve spring. It worked better than the first one. He wore a second prototype of it through three ski seasons, doing his best to break it, and failing. His prosthetist, Lane Ferrin, CP, Northwest Orthotics and Prosthetics, Provo, Utah, said that before that time, Frye came in every six months to have his heavy-duty conventional prosthetic knee replaced or rebuilt.








At the resort, coworkers urged Frye to start a company to manufacture the knee. He pondered the number of amputees who would be interested in telemarking and dismissed the idea. However, he soon tried the knee in other sports, starting with rock climbing, and succeeded. "The next winter," he recalls, "I took it snowboarding, and that's when I realized there would be a market for it because I knew a lot of amputees who wanted to snowboard."

To begin, Frye spent the next six years learning machining, manufacturing, and engineering through a variety of jobs. He worked anywhere he could learn an essential new skill, and when he was done, he moved on. The energy-storing knee prototypes he produced were waterproof and practically indestructible. Using one, he became the first person with a transfemoral amputation to wakeboard and to competitively rock climb. At the 2006 Extremity Games, he took the overall rock-climbing championship.

One afternoon in the midst of his self-education, Frye was getting a haircut from a female friend when a beautiful red-haired woman dropped by to visit his barber. He remembers, "I started hitting on her, and she totally gave me the cold shoulder because she thought I was dating her friend and that I was a slimeball for flirting with her right in front of her friend." After straightening out the mix-up, they went out. Frye recalls with a laugh, "On our first date, we agreed that people in Utah get serious too fast and that you shouldn't get engaged without dating for a least a year. Five months later, we were married."





From left: Jarem, Jude, Ari, and Sara Frye. Photograph courtesy of Logan Ellis.
After he and Sara married, they moved to Oregon to work together for a commercial painting company. Within a month, they were laid off. Both deeply spiritual, they prayed for direction, and decided to start a business manufacturing Frye's knees. That business became Symbiotechs USA, Amity, manufacturer of the XT9 ESPK (energy-storing prosthetic knee). Around that time, they found out that they had started something elseSara was pregnant. Their son, Ari, was born in 2007, and just eight months later, another son was on the way. Their second son, Jude, is now five months old.

As their boys have grown, so have sales at Symbiotechs, though its ability to manufacture the knee is just beginning to meet the demand for it. Frye has turned the Symbiotechs website into a Generation-X marketing powerhouse that includes a social network for XT9 users, who share information about how to use the knee in various sports, including surfing, skateboarding, scuba, ice climbing, and motorcycle riding. It also features clips from the upcoming Symbiotechs-sponsored Xamped Film Festival, whose short films showcase unique athletes, "from blind climbers to double-amputee pro snowboarders, to paraplegics who do backflips in wheel chairs."

Sara says that Frye would like to grow the company to the point that it could help sponsor individual athletes and the Extremity Games. He'd also like to expand Symbiotechs' offerings for the customers whom he cares so much about. Frye's future looks as good as his telemarking formmeasured, determined, and with the grace that comes from healthy audacity.