A LIFE WITHOUT A LIMB

YPRESS MEMBER LOGIN

PRINT THIS PAGE
EMAIL TO A FRIEND
RELATED STORIES
MOST COMMENTED
ARCHIVE
MOST EMAILED
RSS FEEDS

Amputees explain how they adjust, how they have come to appreciate their experiences and how other people react.

November 14, 1994

Have you ever run into people who didn't have an arm or a leg? Did you wonder how their lives differ from yours?

CE recently interviewed Joshua Richards and Dodie Lamagnl. Richards, a junior at the University of Indianapolis, lost a leg to cancer. Lamagnl, a junior at IUPUI, lost an arm in a car accident. They told us how they live with their amputations on a daily basis.

As you read their stories you will see how their lives have changed because of their amputations. You will see that they both appreciate living more and don't appreciate being stared at.

Lamagnl and Richards didn't let their amputations ruin their lives. Instead, they have used what they had and made the best of it.

HOW THEY LOST LIMBS

JOSHUA RICHARDS: My sophomore year in high school, I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer). I was told that I either had to have it taken off or some other form, otherwise I would probably be dead because the tumor had taken a good portion of my leg.

I went through six chemotherapy courses and an amputation.

DODIE LAMAGNL: I was in a car accident before my senior year in high school, and I had to learn how to walk all over again because I broke my pelvis and my tailbone, and I had a concussion. My best friend was killed in it.

CHANGES THEY HAD TO MAKE

LAMAGNL: I used to be right-handed. Seventeen years of my life right-handed - I'm 22 now.

(Before the accident) I was going into criminal justice, and I wanted to shoot a gun and be in the . . . FBI, but things happened and I changed to the medical field, so maybe I'm here to help people or show them something.

RICHARDS: It's kind of like you grow up in a few years. You are a little older than you are supposed to be, just because of what you had to do.

LAMAGNL: I used to draw a lot and do anything until it was perfect, and I played guitar. Now I'm very messy - I fold things real fast and things are wrinkled and I hate to iron anymore, so I think it is because of my arm, or else I would be neat still. So I wear wrinkled dresses.

I can't paddle a boat because all I do is go around in circles. I miss bike riding, too.

RICHARDS: I take things a lot slower - I always stop to smell the roses. It's kind of like seeing your life way ahead of you go right past your eyes and stop and say, "There is so much I've missed."

You try to live every day to the fullest, from sunup to sundown.

GETTING AROUND

LAMAGNL: IUPUI has a disabled student program on campus. . . . I think our campus is very accessible.

RICHARDS: Having the one leg, if you don't wear your leg you usually find yourself hopping everywhere. . . . If you don't want to hop, you use your crutches.

I could walk around on crutches for the rest of my life. . . . It's easier to maneuver around on your crutches than it is on prosthetics.

LAMAGNL: I've got three (prosthetics). I didn't wear one for a whole year, but then once I got them, it was kind of hard not to wear one after a while. But I go without it if I'm in a bathing suit or if I'm going swimming.

REACTIONS OF OTHERS

RICHARDS: I've gotten a lot more respect from a lot of people because of the mere fact that a lot of my buddies who I wrestle with say, "I would not have the guts to do what you did. If I lost my leg, that would be it. It would be over."

It's the mere fact that you don't accept defeat.

LAMAGNL: People just seem to look up to you more if you keep at it and keep going.

RICHARDS: I've had friends who have yelled at me because they think I'm doing too much or 'cause I get too crazy sometimes or a little off the wall and start doing weird things. They'll just wonder what's going on. It's just the mere fact of enjoying life 'cause you're alive.

LAMAGNL: My family basically treats me the same. I think they look up to me also, and they baby me more, and they worry about me whenever I go out the door.

My peers, they look up to me the same way. You have those few who question you, like, "Can you do that?" Then you show them that you can do it and they go like, "Wow." They are so amazed. . . . They make me feel good about so many things.

RICHARDS: They accept us for who we are.

POSITIVE OUTCOMES

RICHARDS: It's a good way to start up conversations with other people - people of the opposite sex.

LAMAGNL: The best thing about it is being able to share it with other people and being able to show them something you have overcome. . . . It make things easier for them if they see something you have gone through.

RICHARDS: It's great at parties, too - party gags. . . . My leg was on fire (one) time, and I didn't feel it.

NEGATIVE OUTCOMES

LAMAGNL: The worst thing is - I think it has a lot to do with my job being in respiratory therapy - I find a lot of things really hard to do. It makes me dread going to work sometimes and working at the hospital, especially with the newborn children and things like that that I can't pick up.

RICHARDS: I applied for a post office job in summer, and . . . they said I was medically at risk and physically at risk. They said I would not be good at the job.

One of the qualifications was you have to lift 50-pound bags. Well, I live on a farm and work on a farm. I pitch 5,000 to 6,000 70-pound bails of hay in the summer, carry calves and feed sacks.

LAMAGNL: There are those few people out there that, when you tell them you have a prosthetic on, then they start to look at you funny or they might back away.

Those few people out there are afraid of people who have lost limbs. They just freak out and try to stay away from them.

RICHARDS: I'll walk around and people will stare, and I'll get the biggest kick out of it. (I tell them to) ask me any question in the world.

LAMAGNL: You would rather have them know, too, instead of just having them sit there and wonder.

They wonder if your nails grow. Then someone asked me, "If your arm is fake, is your hand real?"

FUTURE PLANS

LAMAGNL: After I graduate with my bachelor's in (respiratory therapy) . . . I plan on going for my master's in applicational therapy and helping people. I would like to go into hand disorders or any kind of hand problems or even eating disorders - people with psychological problems. And I want a family.

RICHARDS: I want a job as a teacher. I really enjoy high school kids.

GOOD ADVICE

LAMAGNL: You can't just die because something in your body is gone. If you are here, you got to make the fullest of everything you do or else you're just not going to enjoy life.

RICHARDS: If you make a mistake one day, don't make the same mistake the next day. Live life to the fullest. Don't plan ahead too far because circumstances change. Take things easy, stop and smell the roses, stop along the road one day (and) just sit on the hood of the car and look.

Go places. If you want to do something in your life, get out and do it.

LAMAGNL: It's not the end of the world.

RICHARDS: Don't make excuses for yourself. EDITED BY: Christina Gleitz, 14 ASSISTANT EDITOR: Tracey Miller, 14 EDITED BY: Christina Gleitz, 14 ASSISTANT EDITOR:Tracey Miller, 14

Students at Blind School express concerns, wishes
	The scene looks like any school. The brick buildings, covered with ivy, stand tall. A small playground is off in the distance. On the interior, though, this school looks different. Along the long hallways, many decorations are translated in Braille and students take out their canes, ready to walk to their next class. Children's Express talked with five students at the Indiana School for the Bl
Guide dogs aid independence
	Everyone has dreams and fantasies. Sometimes, by working hard, we can make them come true. For some people, however, no amount of hard work can make their fantasy become a reality _ especially if their aspiration is to gain sight. "I think probably every blind person has a dream of regaining their sight, and unfortunately that's a dream that probably will not happen," said Pete Lang, assistan
Despite hearing loss, she found her way to the top
	What if you had never heard your favorite rock band or couldn't talk to your friends on the phone? How about not being able to hear when your friends are talking in the cafeteria, or not hearing everything the teachers are talking about in class? This is the world faced by people who are hearing-impaired. This is also the world faced by Miss America 1995, Heather Whitestone. While visiting Ind
Being hearing-impaired means you have a lot to prove, teen has learned
	Some people consider being hearing- impaired a condition that forces an individual to give up a "normal" life and live in a world of special attention and handicaps. Children's Express talked to Katie Wodicka, 17, who is hearing impaired, about these views and what her life is like. Katie has some hearing ability and leads a fairly normal life. She was preparing to attend Center Grove High Sch
Hands-on lesson in appreciation
	Sign language -- it's been around for almost 400 years and still is used today by deaf people around the world. It also is being studied by hearing people. Whether their interest is learning a new way to communicate or simply to gain high school credits, many hearing students are taking sign language classes each year. Sandra Delph is a free-lance sign language interpreter who also teaches America
Interpreter for deaf finds work fulfilling
	Sandra Delph's job requires her to be on call 24 hours a day and to drive more than 40,000 miles a year. But she loves it. "The best part is the feeling of public service, I think, and caring about people and being able to interact with them," she said. Delph is a sign language interpreter for the deaf. She's been signing for 17 years but became a full-time interpreter four years ago. She was insp
Inclusion aids students with special needs
	Twenty years ago, high school students with special needs would have been placed in separate classrooms, with limited interaction with other kids. Today, Kelly Kaser, a 19-year-old Carmel student with Down syndrome, has a totally different experience. Her school day consists of helping out at a preschool and attending inclusion classes, where she works beside students without disabilities. She pla
Flight plan calls for wings of Gossamer
	Flight: Man has not seen the 100th anniversary of his creation but is already at work re-creating it. This time the barrier is not only gravity, but physical limitations. The Gossamer Spirit project will allow paraplegic athletes to power an aircraft using only upper-body strength. Terry Airport in Westfield will be home to the Timmy Foundation's latest project. Work on the Gossamer Spirit began i
Education aids understanding of stuttering
	For most people, ordering a pizza is simple: You pick up the telephone and place the order. For people who stutter, it is much more difficult. Afraid of stammering on the phone, they find it easier to drive to the restaurant and order in person. Many people who stutter find they stutter more on the phone, said Bill Murphy, a clinical supervisor in speech language pathology at Purdue University. He