Karen S.‘s Story

Posted by Karen S.
Posted: Wed, April 15 2009 at 6:25pm

“All I ask is ‘give me a chance.’  Proving there’s nothing I can’t do is the easy part.”

Karen S.

Highway Emergency Response Operator, Firefighter, Mother.

Karen S. knows how to move forward—usually at full steam. After suffering the loss of her right leg to a farm machinery accident as a toddler, she’s been tearing through life with a passion and knows that there’s nothing that can stop her.

Presently a HERO (Highway Emergency Response Operator) for the Georgia Department of Transportation, Karen has also worked as a firefighter (the first female above-knee amputee firefighter in the nation), police dispatcher, and criminal detention officer. She’s also set her sights on her next goal of becoming a law enforcement officer.

Since being fit with Otto Bock HealthCare’s C-Leg®, she knows she’s got the right tools to keep working towards her dream. Although she’s worn other prosthetic systems over the years, Karen says that the C-Leg® is the first leg that can keep up with her.  Coming from a woman who spends her days climbing ladders, fighting fires and responding to emergencies, that’s no small compliment.

Andrew‘s Story

Posted by Andrew L.

“Everybody for the rest of my life is going to look at my capability. People are going to wonder, ‘Can he really do it?’ and I want to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind.”

—Andrew L., Special Air Missions Pilot,

Andrews Air Force Base

As a Lt. Colonel with an accomplished Air Force career in his background, there was no reason to question Andrew’s capabilities on the ground or in the air.  A 1998 off-road motorcycle accident, however, threatened to change perceptions.

Following what should have been routine surgery for a broken leg, infection set in and Andrew saw a potential three-month recovery turn into a three-and-a-half year nightmare.  After seventeen surgeries and two knee joint replacements, it was finally determined that amputation was the best solution.  

That final surgery was performed in June 2002 and Andrew was fitted with a C-Leg®—Otto Bock HealthCare’s microprocessor-controlled knee joint prosthesis.

Being fit with the C-Leg® was not a random choice.  As his amputation surgery approached, Andrew carefully researched prosthetic solutions with just one goal in mind – to regain flying status with the Air Force. Following rigorous rehabilitation and standards testing, Andrew attained that goal and in October 2004 became the first above-knee amputee to return to flying status in the history of the Department of Defense, when he became a pilot for Air Force 2.

In addition, Andrew has made it a priority to set a hopeful example for other injured military personnel, and he and his wife, Lisa, have devoted thousands of hours of amputee peer support to soldiers hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.