Читать книгу It’s A Miracle: Real Life Inspirational Stories, Extraordinary Events and Everyday Wonders - Richard Thomas - Страница 12

As a collegiate athlete, John Register was at the top of his form. He ran on four championship teams at the University of Arkansas and held three all-American titles in track-and-field.

“I had a great year in 1987, but in 1988 I really put my athletic career on hold to get my degree and get out of school. So my track-and-field career suffered a little bit during that time.”

After graduation, John married his childhood sweetheart, Alice Johnson, and they soon became the proud parents of a son, John Register, Jr. But it was the dream of Olympic gold that led John to the U.S. Army and their world-class athlete training program. His road to the Olympics, however, would soon take an unexpected detour.

“I got called up to serve in the Gulf War. And so I went and served with the 5th and 27th Field Artillery in Operation Desert Storm.”

Seven months later, John returned from the war and resumed his quest for the Olympic gold. But with only limited training time available, he failed to make the 1992 team.

“I wasn’t dejected by that at all, and I started calculating almost immediately. I said, If I can just improve three places each year, I can be on that team in 1996.”

So he intensified his training, and his performance steadily improved. It seemed his dream would become a reality … until the end of one fateful training session.

“I decided to take one more pass down the track before shutting it down. I was just too tired to save my energy for the next day.”

He cleared each of the hurdles with room to spare, until suddenly he fell short.

“I knew it was going to be difficult to make the thirteen steps for the next hurdle, but I got across it, and when I landed my leg popped out of the socket. I saw that my left leg was crossed over my right leg with my foot pointing back toward my face. And I just turned away from it. I couldn’t look at it anymore. Then the pain hit. It was tremendous. I felt like the whole leg was just on fire, was just exploding.”

John was taken to the Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas. Alice and John junior rushed to his side.

Alice remembers, “When I walked in I didn’t see my husband. I saw a man, but he didn’t look like John.… It was as if every muscle from head to toe were hurting.”

Doctors discovered that John’s popliteal artery had been severed, preventing blood from circulating to his lower leg. Gangrene had set in, forcing them to remove the infected muscle tissue from his calf, but John’s prognosis was bleak.

Alice says, “The doctor said, ‘You can keep your leg and you will walk with severe pain and a limp for the rest of your life, or we can amputate your leg and you can rebuild your life. It’s not a decision I need right now, but we’re gonna need it soon.’”

John says, “I knew that it had to come off. I just knew that it had to be done. The answer was clear. Let’s get rid of the pain, and then we can deal with the other stuff later. I could not see myself living with either a wheelchair or a walker and being in pain. Especially the pain that I was feeling at that point in my life.”

Once again John was taken into surgery, this time to amputate his leg above the knee.

“About three days after the amputation,” Alice remembers, “I asked him if he was strong enough to get up and if he would like to go outside.”

“I said, ‘Well, just park the wheelchair right here and I’ll just watch you all playing on the swings,’” says John. “And when I saw that I could not get out of that chair and go over with John junior to the swing and the slide, I actually understood what it meant to be different—to be a changed individual. And I think that’s when the limitations started piling on me. I think I started to realize that I wasn’t going to the Olympic trials. This dream was over for me. I would never run again.”

“I heard John just crying,” remembers Alice. “Just crying. So I walked back over and John junior walked over and we just hugged him. And I think at that moment John really realized that his leg was gone.”

Having accepted his loss, John focused on rebuilding his life, attacking his therapy with the same dedication that had made him a world-class athlete.

John says, “In my mind, I was ready to start the recovery process. And I didn’t really know what to expect at that point. But I knew that whatever I had to do, I had to get strong again.”

Determined to strengthen his body, John began swimming. His competitive instincts soon took over. One year after his accident, John made the U.S. swim team and competed in the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta.

John remembers, “That’s where I think the idea was sparked in my head to come back to the sport of my first love, track-and-field.”

John immediately started training to run in the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games. His results, however, were not encouraging.

“I’d go out there and strap the leg on and run down the track. I was trying to get the rhythm and it just wasn’t coming.”

Alice remembers, “After a run, the skin would be gone on the inner part of his leg. And he would have large sores on it.”

John says, “And I said, ‘Well, maybe I can’t do this.’ The doubt started creeping in.”

But Alice and John made a pact that would help John get back out on the track.

Alice says, “I was learning to rollerblade and I had severely twisted my ankle. And I said, ‘I’m not getting back on another rollerblade.’”

Alice agreed to try rollerblading again if John would try running 100 meters.

John remembers, “She used the rollerblades to show me that if she could go back to it even though she was so scared of them, then I could get up there and get on my leg and run again as well.”

Alice says, “So we did it together. I rollerbladed the 100 and he ran for 100. And at that point I was excited. I could see his joy in it again.”

A few days later, John ran his first competitive race since losing his leg.

“It was the scariest thing I had ever done. I mean, I had no control. I saw the backs of almost every athlete out-there. And I was just fighting to stay upright, to stay balanced and not to fall, but at the same time, when I crossed that line I said to myself, You know, you just did it. You just ran against the best of the world here.”

Two weeks later, John qualified for the Disabled World Championships in the 100 meters and the long jump. Still, he knew he could do better.

“The leg was whipping around and it was not working with my body. I was actually fighting it. When I ran, I was landing on the top portion of the leg. And that was cutting into the inside groin area. So every time I landed, the pain was so bad that I felt like I was on fire.”

But someone was watching who would change John’s life forever: a prosthetic designer named Tom Guth.

Tom says, “His speed was incredible, fantastic, but his leg was just whipping to the side and going in all directions. And I thought, What a shame. This man has so much power, so much speed. If we could straighten his leg out and get him a good fit, he could probably be a gold medal winner.”

Using advanced technology at the RGP Prosthetic Research Center in San Diego, Tom designed a new state-of-the-art running-and-jumping prosthetic for John.

“The results were just phenomenal,” John remembers. “Two seconds had just come off of my time. And I felt my body come back to me again. It was an incredible feeling and I knew I was going to make the U.S. team for the Paralympic Games, so I could compete in Sydney, Australia.”

The first step was the qualifying trials.

John says, “I saw myself on that runway and the competitive spirit just came back. I thought, You know what to do, you’ve been in this position many times before, and you can do it.”

And he did.

John’s Olympic dreams had come true. In spite of all the suffering and hardship, he was competing once again.

“It was a dream come true,” John says. “And even though I’m not on the track as an able-bodied athlete, having the experience of playing at the Games is better. It’s been really fantastic to understand that you can push your body to another level.”

John posted a personal best in every event he competed in, winning a silver medal in the long jump and placing fifth in the 100- and 200-meter races.

Alice reflects, “I think what people can learn from John’s journey is that there is nothing that you can’t do. If you have determination, you can succeed at whatever you put your mind to.”