In October 1986, while working for a rural electric company, I reached out to pull down what I thought was a dead power line, and 7,620 volts of electricity shot through my body. I ended up in intensive care at Baptist Burn Center in Oklahoma City, drifting in and out of consciousness. The doctors said they would have to cut off my hands, that gangrene would set in if they didn’t.

When I woke up from the surgery I was thirsty and I reached out for the glass of water on my bedside table. I couldn’t do it…my hands were gone. I was mad and I started to cry. That was only the beginning of realizing all the little things I could no longer do for myself.

I’d been in the hospital over a month when the doctors discovered a problem with my left arm. They had to re-amputate, this time at the elbow. Little did I know it would be the first of several surgeries, including a revision that would allow room for a myoelectric elbow. I ended up with the left arm amputated above the elbow and the right arm below the elbow.

Everyone kept saying I wouldn’t be able to operate two myoelectric arms, that it would be too hard and I’d need at least one hook. At that time, few people had ever worn two myoelectric arms. But my prosthetist believed in me. He spent a lot of time working with me, making changes in the arms and hands to help me do whatever I wanted to try. It takes a lot of muscle control to use the arms and it takes a lot of practice. I remember sitting for hours picking up potato chips and crushing soda cans.

In the beginning, I had many bad days. When the frustration overwhelmed me I was filled with questions. Why did this happen to me? Why didn’t I get to die? Why was I left on earth to survive with something less than I came in with? At the same time, I’d always preached to my kids about not giving up. Could I live what I preached and show them how to not give up?

With the help of my family and my prosthetist, and a whole lot of hard work and determination, I’ve gone on with my life. I’ve come many miles from those horrible first months. I still work full time for the power company plus I’m the president of the school board in my county. I’ve been a volunteer fireman, a baseball umpire, and for fun, I raise cattle. I can drive a truck, operate heavy machinery, shoot a gun, write a check, and lift and throw bales of hay. I wear both my arms all day, every day and I have for 13 years.

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