What injury did you sustain?
I sustained multiple traumatic injuries: Broken Right Wrist, Broken Right Ribs, Broken Right, Shoulder Blade, Ripped Diaphragm, Collapsed Right Lung, Left Lower Leg was degloved and sustained multiple fractures from ankle to knee ultimately resulting in amputation below the knee.
When did this injury occur?
4/22/2009
How long was the recovery process?
The majority of the healing process had taken place fairly quickly as I was able to return to work with no restrictions on October 5, 2009. I continue healing to this day.
What provided you the motivation and drive to press on through the difficult times after sustaining the injury?
I don’t know if there was anything specific. I have always been of the mind that I can do anything I put my mind to. One of my montras is from the musical Annie Oakley, “Anything you can do, I can do better.”
I lost my wife in the accident and that was the most devastating injury of all. The physical injuries just seemed like a bump in the road compared to losing Leanna.
I have a son and a daughter and 4 grandsons that had just lost their step-mother and step-grandmother. They didn’t need me to be “needy.” I can take care of myself.
Dr. Archie Heddings was more than a doctor to me. He would visit with me about motorcycles, and helicopters and anything else that came up. He really put me at ease.
How did the injury you sustained shape your character in who you are today?
According to my daughter I am her Superman. I do not feel that I have changed in character at all, but maybe others would disagree. I have a strong feeling of responsibility to my employer, and my family. I go to work every day and put in 50, 60, and sometimes 70 hours a week. I come home in pain and discomfort most days, but I refrain from taking pain medications on all but the most severely painful days.
Since the injury, how has life changed for you?
Other than losing the most precious person in my life and being alone every day, life for me has not changed very much. The amputation of my leg has not slowed me down very much at all. I still go to work every day. My grandsons spend every weekend with me and we do anything and everything together. I just don’t run very good anymore and I’m a little slower going up and down stairs. I still ride a motorcycle and enjoy having fun with my friends and family.