Within a week, late in 2007, I encountered three persons who had encountered debilitating health problems due to no fault of their own. Remarkably, astonishingly, they showed a positive acceptance of their conditions, had endured enormous pain and suffering, and were making the best of their handicaps. After talking with each of them, I wanted to slap myself for ever complaining about anything!

Their stories are so compelling that I had to write about them, and some have graciously consented to their publication, not that they are soliciting sympathy, but by sharing, they may be an encouragement to others in like or similar situations and to alert the medical community that may result in better treatment for their conditions.

First, he is a gifted mechanical engineer, although he never had an engineering degree, being first a teacher in the public schools, then a coal trucker and then a maintenance supervisor for a strip mining Coal Company. It happened on 9/11!

He had just finished repairing a dozer in a strip pit and stood with his hand on the door of his maintenance truck, preparing to mount the running board with his back to the high wall when he heard a piercing scream from a worker who had been helping him. “John C, Jo! It’s comin’ at cha!” But it was already on John before he turned. A 20-ton boulder had been loosened from atop the high wall and crashed into the service truck, catching John C and pinning him against the truck temporarily before slinging him unconscious 40 feet at a right angle from the point of impact.

When John C. came to several minutes later, he could not find his right leg which had been severed just below the hip. His left leg had been broken and crushed, hanging to his body by shreds of skin and gristle. Remarkably, he kept reasonably cool and yelled to his helper, who ran away from him, returning several minutes later with another worker who helped him tourniquet the severed leg to staunch the flow of blood that threatened his life and consciousness again.

Stabilized ever so slightly with adrenaline dulling the pain to a tolerable level, John lay at the site of the accident while the Coal Company called Lexington for a helicopter to transport him to a hospital, but the FAA had grounded all flights due to 9/11. Nearly an hour elapsed before a helicopter was cleared to this mine site and by that time the adrenaline had worn off and the pain was becoming excruciating! A shot of morphine on the return trip to Lexington eased John somewhat as he lost consciousness again.

Four days in the hospital stabilized him somewhat as physicians pondered the best course of action. Then as they sought to clean up the severed leg and to mend the mangled one, he expired on the operating table. They zapped him back to life and returned him to his room for further recovery, a procedure that was foll-owed for the next three days. Four days, four heart stoppages. Then, finally on the fifth day his heart tolerated the shock and he was operated on.

Two months further in recovery at Cardinal Hill. Fitted for a prosthesis, a leg that has a computer imbedded that helps him with balance and other problems, he can walk about fifty yards before needing to rest. He has undergone several operations on his right leg which functions remarkably well today. The coal company for which he worked built ramps and modified his home so he can move easily therein in a motorized wheelchair. The company also provided him with a customized pickup that he can operate with hand controls. Six years later: He is Volunteer Fire Chief and, by effective scrounging and management, he has, with lots of community help, built a first class fire station on land that he donated for the fire house. Four modern fire engines, two ambulances, and 34 volunteer fire persons, 29 certified, averaging 90 some calls per year, the majority of which are ambulance runs. He uses a computer to track runs and keep records.

Receiving less than $9,000 per year from the state and raising an additional $15,000 via horse shows and other activities, this volunteer fire department has strong community support and pride. They have added a second and third floor to an attractively designed fire house with volunteers finishing a community room which can function for many social activities within this village close to the CSX railroad.

Conclusions?

·There is no evidence of self pity with this man. No woe is me! No solicitation of sympathy! No looking back! Positive, almost playful! I encountered him in front of his house and he said, “Let’s go over to the firehouse. Come on, I’ll race you,” and he took off in his motorized wheel chair and turned into the office, opened the door, pirouetted, and watched me huff and puff as I tried to catch up.

·He is probably serving more people and has more influence than he did before the accident. Certainly the $9000.00 which his fire department receives each year in tax money is providing invaluable service for the residents within this watershed. Oh, if other government grants were as productive!

·John C. Campbell, Jr. stared down the Devil! He looked a catastrophic accident square in the eye and did not blink! He threw mudballs at Death from his foxhole and emerged stronger and more able! Hallelujah, Amen! Hallelujah, Amen! Hallelujah, Amen!