Kevin, TX

two broken hips, double hip surgery

Kevin is from the DFW area and lives in Dallas as a twenty-eight-year-old working professional. However, he has a unique story. He had always been an active athletic guy who could run a subfive-minute mile. Because of his athletic ability he was recruited to West Point Military Academy, “At West Point they make you test your physical abilities every six months, and it counts towards twenty percent of your GPA at the school.” He worked out all the time and was the captain of his cycling team in college. He ended up graduating from West Point and went to Colorado in a ground soldier unit. Within the first few weeks of being in Colorado he received a call from head officials who said, “we scanned all the incoming officers based on their run time, and we picked the top ten and you are all going to Afghanistan in six weeks.” Shortly after graduation, Kevin deployed to Afghanistan with a team of about 100 soldiers.

There was a nighttime mission with about two dozen guys in a chinook (big bus-like helicopter) who flew about an hour and needed to get off really quickly, “My group of twenty-three guys got really excited and started pushing towards the back of the ramp and I got pushed off the back of the chinook from about five feet off the ground and I fell to the ground, but with an extra 120 pounds on my back…. when I landed, I felt a crack in my hips, and I crumpled.” You would think Kevin would have needed to seek medical attention immediately, but he explained “I got a job to do… so I take a knee… and get up and go.” He was leading the crew and he was the only guy who did what he was specifically trained to do. He stated, “I was in a position where I got to do actual combat missions and that is like five percent of the army now. I got lucky… if you are that lucky you do not want to give it up.”

Now fast-forward about one year. Kevin had been in pain but was still excelling at leading teams. He was looking to apply for the Special Forces, but during the required physical was unable to sit crisscross. The doctors told Kevin he needed to get an MRI of his hips. “What I didn’t know is that I had fractured my left hip socket, I had cracked it open, and then on both sides I tore my cartilage and my labrum… it was bone on bone.” This led to him needing two reconstructive hip surgeries. Kevin then relied on a wheelchair and crutches to do his daily routine. He realized how hard it was trying to open the door to his apartment complex while in a wheelchair, how much longer it took for a trip to the grocery store, how difficult it was to unload the car full of groceries by himself in a wheelchair, and the list goes on. He found it interesting to see how people treated him differently when in a wheelchair vs. on crutches, “When I was in the wheelchair, no one would help me, because I think they felt awkward and they did not want to make me feel bad… they genuinely did not want to interrupt my day if this is my normal day, every day….” However, when you are on crutches, he said that as a twenty-five-year-old healthy guy everyone helps you because they think you have temporarily broken your foot or knee because of a sports injury. “I would use crutches just so I would not get all the awkwardness even though it was probably healthier for me to be in a wheelchair.”

Kevin found himself traveling a couple of times during his recovery, and experienced being in a wheelchair at the airport, “You take it for granted when you can say ‘I have a roller, a backpack, and I am carrying a duffel on my shoulder’.” He had to carry all of that in his lap while in a wheelchair. He also realized that there are so many escalators, but not as many elevators, which made it difficult to go where he needed in a timely manner. Although it was difficult and very different traveling in a wheelchair at the airport, he did say that the airport staff were extremely accommodating for him once he arrived at the gate.

Since Kevin’s situation was unusual in that his disability was temporary, he has gained a greater respect and understanding for those who are permanently disabled. It opened his eyes to many obstacles he was unaware of before this experience. He says that now if he sees someone in a wheelchair, he always offers to help because he wished he would have had more help when he was in a wheelchair. Kevin stated, “the two biggest takeaways would be how people treated me….the second one was the time it took you to do different things.”

Kevin brings up a great point. Just because someone uses an assisted device, does not mean we should treat them like they are incapable. However, we need to become more aware and offer the support and assistance when needed.