“Flex My Quad” by Gary Weiland

There are a multitude of challenges that I had to overcome in order to get back to being a firefighter after my leg amputation, but there is one that stood out…learning how to walk again. Do you remember learning how to walk? Probably not. You were 1 year old. I’ll tell you right now, at 39 years old, it wasn’t easy.

When I first got my prosthesis, it was very painful to put any pressure on my residual stump. That part of the body wasn’t designed to withstand my body weight. Combine that with my knee buckling every time I took a step, made it extremely difficult to walk. You see, on my right leg, I have a heel. So every time I take a step, my heel hits the ground, which fires my patella tendon, which in turn, keeps my knee from buckling, and I walk normally. However, on my left side, I don’t have a heel. So I had to figure out a way to fire my patella tendon so my knee wouldn’t buckle. I figured out that if I flexed my quadricep in my thigh, my patella tendon would fire, then my knee wouldn’t buckle, and I could take a step without falling. Seems easy enough right? Well, let me tell you, it’s not! Every single time I took a step, I had to tell myself, “Flex my quad. Flex my quad.” Every. Single. Step. If I forgot, then my knee would buckle, and I would take a tumble. If I was having a conversation with someone as I was walking, I would have to pause between steps and say “flex my quad” or my knee would buckle. It made for some interesting conversation! So, it took hours and hours and days and weeks and months to build muscle memory in my brain so that I don’t have to remind myself on every step to “Flex my quad.”

It’s been over 4 years and every now and then, it still buckles on me. I guess 39 years of not having to say “Flex my quad” still creeps into my brain and it forgets. But, I’m reminded of it very quickly! This is just one of the challenges that I’ve had to Adapt and Overcome since becoming an amputee. It is so hard but it is so worth it. If you do the easy things in life, life will be hard. However, if you do the hard things in life, life will be easier. Adapt and Overcome!

– Gary Weiland