GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — April is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month. This year, the Hanger Clinic Limb Loss Awareness 5k's ambassador is sharing his story, hoping to give those with similar experiences hope.
Last summer, RJ Myler says he passed out from heat exhaustion while working, driving a garbage truck. He veered into oncoming traffic and hit a box truck in the left turn lane near Knapps Corner.
"I obviously came to, you know, to try to stop," said Myler, "But a little too late by then."
The other driver had minor injuries, but Myler was lucky to be alive. He said an off-duty police officer and a retired marine stopped to help him while waiting for an ambulance, one using his seat belt as a tourniquet.
"This leg was amputated below knee in the accident," said Myler, "So that was pretty nasty and gnarly. This arm was backward. I'd broken my humerus bone, so this was facing that way. Pretty gnarly cut on my arm that was bleeding pretty profusely. And then this leg was like up here with a chunk missing. So, lots of blood."
He does not remember much from the accident until waking up at a hospital nearly three days later.
He spent weeks in the hospital, and months in rehab. He lost his left leg.
"I lost my dad eight years ago in a work accident," said Myler, "So, I know the other side of, like, not being to have someone come home. I know how lucky I am to be able to come home to them and to my girls."
In December, Myler was fitted for a prosthetic.
"He had a lot of trauma on both sides," said Jennifer Cryst, certified prosthetist for Hanger Clinic, "So, that made his return to mobility harder. He had to work that much harder."
Myler said his two young daughters were motivation to return to mobility, needing to "run around with them."
"You hate for them to have to go through something like that," said Myler talking about his daughter's experience with the aftermath of his accident, "But it's almost such a blessing that they have, because when they see somebody who looks a little different, it's not that big of a deal, because Dad's that way, right?"
Myler is the ambassador for the Hanger Clinic Limb Loss Awareness 5k this year.
"So many other people who, like me are an amputee, and you're not alone," said Myler, "There's people that are like you, that share the same struggles and the same successes as you."
Cryst said Myler's "stubborness" helped him with his motivation to regain his strength.
"I was beyond blessed the day and then I had so many guardian angels watching over me," said Myler, "Then just the people there. Without them, I wouldn't probably be sitting here talking to you, along with all the doctors at Butterworth Hospital that helped put me back together."
The City of Kentwood and the Hanger Clinic have partnered to host the Limb Loss Awareness 5k on April 29. Registration is $35. To register, visit RunSignUp.com.
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