Patient Spotlight: Gloria Syfan's Journey After Traumatic Amputation

In this powerful episode, we sit down with Gloria Syfan, a survivor of a traumatic above-the-knee leg amputation, to hear the raw and unfiltered story of the day that changed her life forever. Gloria walks us through the harrowing details of the incident, offering a deeply personal account of the moments leading up to and following her injury.

She reflects on the extraordinary network of support that carried her through, from the EMTs who acted without hesitation to the skilled doctors of Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s Trauma Department. She speaks with gratitude about the unwavering love of her family, the compassionate care from her physical therapists at The Rehabilitation Center of Northeast Georgia Medical Center, the expert guidance of The Longstreet Clinic’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, and the dedicated team at Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics. 

More than just a recounting of events, Gloria reflects on her mindset throughout recovery and how she’s refused to let her amputation define her. Her strength, resilience, and unwavering sense of self shine through in this inspiring conversation.

Whether you're a healthcare professional, a patient, or someone seeking stories of human courage, Gloria’s journey is one you won’t forget.

The Inspiring Miracle Of Gloria “Go-Go” Syfan: https://syfanlogistics.com/faith-over-fear-the-inspiring-miracle-of-gloria-go-go-syfan/

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Guest: Gloria Syfan, wife to Jim Syfan of Syfan Logistics, and patient of Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics

Host: Rachael Auyer, Co-Owner of Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics

Producer: Laine Johnson, Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics, Marketing Assistant 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Thank you for joining the Alliance Goldigger Podcast. We're so glad you're here. On today's show, we have a patient spotlight that is so inspiring. Mrs. Gloria Sipin is here today, aka Go-Go. With her brave mindset as well as her willingness and determination, she has overcome so many obstacles since her tragic events of April 14th, 2024. Mrs. Siphon describes the tragedy as well as the care she received here in Gainesville, Georgia. It's been a privilege to walk alongside her and witness the love and support our community has shown her as well as her family. You will not want to miss this podcast. Thank you for joining us. Mrs. Siphon, thank you so much for coming in today and being on the Alliance Gold Digger podcast. It's an honor to have you with our listeners today. I know it's going to be a great conversation. Before we dive in, would you be willing to tell us a little bit about yourself? I know our paths crossed after a traumatic amputation. But why don't you give us the backstory? Who is Mrs. Siphon and how do you know Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Thank you for having me and for allowing me to share this story with you. My name is Gloria, but everyone calls me Go-Go. I'm 80 years young. I'm the wife of my childhood sweetheart for 61 years. We have two sons, five grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. The dinner table is crowded. There's 27 of us. I've always been very active. I trained and showed German shepherds in obedience and tracking, which is so much fun to do. I've trained and showed Quarter Horses, had a blast with that, was reserve world champion in 2000. After that, my girlfriend and I hauled two young girls all over the country showing horses. So we got to live through them a little bit, which was wonderful. I now have a little Jack Russell Terrier, Callie, that I've gone through obedience with. She's also done agility. Um, and now she just lays around the house.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yeah. Um, you and your high school sweetheart, uh Jimmy, yes, own this little tiny company here in Gainesville. Why don't you tell us about it?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Well, when we were in our 30s, I was working for an orthodontist and Jimmy had been working at a trucking company, and he called me one day and he said, Gloria, you've got to quit work. We're gonna start our own company.

unknown 3:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

I have to tell you, it scared me a little bit because you're jumping out there um into the unknown, but you really can't say no to your husband and dampen his dreams. So we jumped right in. Our boys, one had just graduated from high school and one was a junior. So we hawked our car, we had a boat, we put it up for sale. Any way we could have enough money to start this little company. We found a little trailer right by the railroad tracks and just started out there. And Jimmy had to keep his job. He taught the boys what to do, and he would drive us to this little trailer every morning, drop us off, and then he would go to work. And at the end of the day, he would come back, he would pick us up, take my typewriter, we would go home, I would at type up all the invoices we had created that day, and on the way in that morning, we'd mail them at the post office. We did that for one year. We finally were profitable enough for him to be there full time instead of just helping us along the way for that first year. We had more fun in that little trailer. The train was so close to us, every time it would go by, we'd have to put our customers on hole because it would shake the whole trailer and you couldn't hear anything. It was quite an experience, and it just God was with us and it just grew. We were able to hire our first employee. We now have almost 500, they work with us, um, and they have made us successful.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

And something you were telling me before the show, uh, how many of your family members work at Siphon Logistics now? Everyone but the girls.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Uh so we get to see everyone every day. We have a family affair. Yes, we have one grandson that works remotely from Colorado. That's the state he loves. So he's there. But all the rest of us get to see each other all the time, which is a true blessing.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

That's so cool. Thank you for sharing the backstory of how you lived prior to your accident. If you're willing, why don't you help our listeners kind of understand how our paths crossed and where you are today?

SPEAKER_00 6:02

I'd love to. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and we decided to go on our first boat ride. It was April 14th of last year. We had our little dog Callie with us and had been riding around for about three hours, and we decided she might need to get off the boat and walk around. So we were near the Olympic rowing venue and we pulled in. It was a terrifically windy day, and it was kind of tossing the boat around, so we pulled back out from the docks to get a better angle going in. And when we did, not quite sure why I stood up, but I did, and my hat blew off. And for a quick second I thought, just let the hat go. But I didn't. I walked to the back of the boat and it was sitting right there. I thought I could just lean over and pick it up. And then I thought, no, I can't hold on to anything because I have a cast on my left hand from a slight little surgery the week before, and then I did. I just leaned over to pick it up with my right hand, and when I did, I fell in, which was fine, it was not too cold in the water, and I made my way back to the back of the boat and was holding on, and all of a sudden I felt my left leg being pulled up under the boat, and I felt it flipping all around, but there was no pain involved, it was just a very strange feeling, and I remember yelling, stop. My husband realized right away what was happening, and he pulled the boat away from me very quickly, and I think that's what kind of sucked me back down under the water. I felt like I was way down under the water. I could look up and I could see a tiny little light above me, and I knew I had to get to the surface, so I kept fighting my way to get to the top, and when my head finally popped up, I saw the boat. It was about 20 feet away from me, and my husband was laying on the back of the swim deck trying to pull with his hands the boat toward me, but it's a big boat and it wasn't moving, so I thought I can just swim to that boat, I'd be fine. But when I tried to swim, my left leg just felt like jelly. Still didn't hurt, it just felt very strange. So I flipped over on my back and I just backpadled to the boat. By the time I got there, I was feeling weak, but still not in any pain at all. And Jimmy tried to reach down and lift me in the boat, but he couldn't budge me. I was dead weight and I was stopping wet, and there was a slight little pause, and I heard him say softly, I don't know what to do. And then he did. He lifted me up, put me on the back of that swim deck like I didn't weigh anything, like I was a little feather. And by this time everything was going dark, so I couldn't see, but I could hear everything. And it may have been my eyes were shut. I I don't know why I couldn't see. Um at one quick little point though, I must have cracked my eyes open because all I could see was blood. It wasn't like a lake behind me, it was just like red blood. So I must have shut my eyes back really tight. My husband took his belt off and made a tourniquet around my leg. The only reason I know that is I felt it tighten on my leg. And then I heard him yell to a fisherman that was nearby, and he yelled, nine, call nine one, and the fisherman said, I already have. Then Jimmy told me, he called me Gloria Jean, which he never calls me unless he's upset. He said, Gloria Jean, you've got to hold on tight because I have to drive the boat back to shore. So this is another little miracle that happened that day. When the fisherman dialed 911, there happened to be an off-duty EMT going over the bridge right at the Olympic rowing center. And he whipped in and came straight down to the dock. Jimmy got us back to the dock. I don't really remember anything, but at one point I did tell him, Callie's on board, Jimmy. Call Steve. Our son only lives one mile down from there, and I said, he'll come get her because I knew they wouldn't let her on an ambulance. So when we got to the shore, I heard a woman scream, and I found out that was one of my granddaughters who knew something was bad wrong. When Steve got the call, he hopped up, ran to his car, and they followed him. They knew something they didn't know what, but they knew something was wrong. And when they saw me, it just scared them. And hence the scream. The young MT that came down, I felt him tighten the tourniquet around my leg really tight. That's the first time I felt anything that kind of hurt. And he asked me my name. And I told him, My name's Gloria. I wish I could have seen him, but again, everything then was still really dark. And I said, This is my husband Jimmy. And I didn't see Jimmy, but I pointed like he would be to my side. And he looked at me and he said, My name's Joshua. He said, You keep repeating those three words over and over again. The whole time you're in the ambulance, till you get to the hospital. I remember hitting my chest with my hand saying, I'm Gloria. This is Jimmy. That's Joshua. He gave me a purpose and he gave me a job to keep my mind off, I guess, what was happening, or to keep me awake. Um, but I just repeated those words over and over again. I don't remember much about the ambulance ride other than that. I do remember arriving at the hospital, feeling a little bump as they took me out of the ambulance and into the hospital. I remember the ride down a dark corridor and a voice and a person starting to stand next to me. I found out that was Dr. Cormikan who was the trauma one surgeon on call that night. And he told me, he said, we may not can save your leg. And I answered that kind of in a crazy way. I just said, fix it. I remember saying, just fix it. I remember rolling into the surgery room, and instead of everything black, everything was white. Lots of faces, lots of white masks. Um I remember the little mask they put over your face coming toward me, and I remember trying to push it away, saying, I can't breathe. And that's the last thing that I remember about that.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Wow. I just to go back to that day seeing all the different people that were placed right at the right time. And your family, your support. Uh, why don't you talk about one or two things that really stood out to you in those really critical hours?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Exactly what you said. It was the support that I felt and the coming together of our community. We're so blessed to live in Gainesville, Georgia, to have all the resources that we have. We are blessed with a trauma one center. Um, the night I went into the hospital, every trauma surgeon was there that night. Um so it I had the best of care um not only from the doctors and the nurses, uh, from my family. Um I remember waking up from the surgery in the recovery room, and I actually could see then, and I saw my husband, he was holding my hand, our two sons, Greg and Steve, my sister Beverly, and my brother, Butch, were there, and I'm I'm vain. I knew I looked terrible because I'd fallen into the lake. And I remember looking over at my sister, and I said, Your hair looks better than mine. And yeah, I must have gone to sleep then because I don't remember anything other than waking up the next morning.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

No, that I would have probably asked someone fix my hair too. I um I want you to talk about the doctor. Dr. Cormican, tell us some things that you just love about this doctor. I know he's so loved in our community and we're so thankful for Northeast Georgia and their staff, how they received you.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

I wouldn't be here today, I don't believe, walking if it wasn't for Dr. Cormican and his skill and his care for all of his patients. He told me the truth right off as far as you may lose your leg. And that didn't bother me at all. It's strange. I think I was so happy to be alive that I that was almost a minor thing. He came to my room every single day. He would check on me, but he did beyond what a doctor would do. He would come and sit with us, we would laugh. Uh my sister was there most of the time, and and um we would all just cut up and laugh about life. He would come in and check on me at nights. Sometimes it'd be nine o'clock at night, so I thought he must live at the hospital. Um, and then my son had brought my iPad for me to look at. So I was I'm a Netflix lover. And he would actually sit down with me and talk about the movies at night. I just think that's above and beyond what a doctor normally does.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

No, I I have heard uh from many a patient in our community what a blessing it is to have him. So I'm so glad he gets a little fame here on our podcast for all the good work he's doing.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

We got to meet with him because it was our one-year anniversary. So we met him for lunch and he actually brought his mom and dad. Now, that just made my heart feel good because as a mom and dad, they'd never met a patient of their sons. Yeah. And I got to tell them how wonderful he was and all the little things they would never know about him, except for them being there that day. So I just felt so good about being able to share him with them.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yep. As another mother, there is nothing better than hearing that your kid did something good. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

And his nurses, they're all the nurses at the trauma one center. I was in the actual trauma one room only for one or two nights. Then they put me in trauma too, which means I'm better.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Which is great. And two of my night nurses were also horseback riders. So when they had a moment, they would pop in and we'd just talk about our adventures on horses. I can't think of not one bad experience while I was there.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

No, that's wonderful. Now, how we connected, and the word is kind of naughty, it always sounds weird, but Jason is a prosthetist orthodist, and we have a mutual friend that called us. Um, and if she's listening, Dr. Dudas, she's wonderful. Uh, she said, Hey, I think you need to go go see her. And Jason's like, I I don't know her. I don't know if she wants me to. And then we got the call, hey, could you could you come in? And Jason retells the story. He didn't see a person when he went into the room, he only saw flowers. And so he had to swim through the flowers. And he was a little shell-shocked because most people after traumatic amputation are not wearing full makeup and earrings. They typically are more in an average setting, but he said he got through the flowers and then he saw balloons and all of the different uh love offerings your family and support had sent. And he met somebody who was ready to work, and he said, The first thing you said is, I want three legs. Talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Well, I thought you had to have a leg for everything you wanted to do, and so I said, I want three areas in my dressing room, one for each leg. I'm a high heel girly girl. I love high heels. I told him I want one leg to wear high heels, I want one leg with a spur to ride my horse, and I want one leg with a tennis shoe. He kind of giggled when I said that. Um, but he just made me feel so comfortable, like I had always known him when he came into the room that day, and I knew everything was gonna be all right.

unknown 21:59

So

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Many great things happened. This is right before I met Jason. It was the day talking about the makeup and the hair. My husband had called me the morning after surgery and he said, I'm gonna bring some things up, you know, that you might need, Gloria. Tell me some of the things. And I said, Jimmy, go in the closet and get a suitcase because I want all my makeup. I want all my night creams. You know, I said, I am not going to lose Gloria because of this accident. Yeah. And so hence the hairdo. My granddaughters came every morning, brought me Starbucks, they helped me with my hair, and we talked makeup. I mean, I'm the makeup queen, so I could I was actually telling them what to do with makeup. That's fair. So that's why that's why Jason. Listen, priorities. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

He he knows I would have done the same thing. Um, I have some good friends who, when I've had some procedures and such, they came. I only have sons, so I don't have anybody to come do my makeup. My mom has helped me a few times too.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

I want to go ahead. I will tell you one other thing about Dr. Cormican.

unknown 23:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

That I should have said this is it um because the propeller took off most of the back of my leg for the first three days and and after that too, but the first three days there was something called a wound back they had attached to the back of my leg. And it was this calming little motor that made a putt-putt sound all the time. And um it was actually kind of comforting. And the first two times they did these wound back changes, they took me down to surgery and they put me to sleep. So I thought, well, there's nothing to these wound back changes. Uh, you know, it's not a big deal. Well, the third time Dr. Cormikan came in my room and he said, Okay, Gloria, today we're gonna see if you can tolerate a wound back change here in the room. And I thought, I don't like that term tolerate. But he knew I could not go home until they knew they could do these wound vac changes at their trauma clinic. So had plenty of drugs that day. It still was very uncomfortable, but but we got it done. So I always thought it was cute, his little happy voice coming in. We're gonna see if you can tolerate this.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

That's funny.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Then after after that, it was a few days later, they did um skin grass off of my right leg um to put on the back of my left leg. Now we did name my leg because I would lay in bed and I'd think, I don't want my little leg called stumpy. Um, and so I was talking to my sister and she actually came up with the name Grace. She said, because by the grace of God you have her. So we named her Grace. And when we came to your office and I got my prosthetic leg, I named her Joy because it was a joy to be able to walk again. Started feeling bad for the little right leg that was doing all the work, so I named her Hope. So I have a whole village right here with me. Um, and Hope is really happy that Joy and Gracie are getting along and do great together.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

No, I I was hoping you would introduce introduce the gang that you have that comes into the clinic and uh when Gracie and Joy are communicating really well together, it's magic. They're great sisters.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yes, they argue some days a little, but get along most all the time.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah, no, I I would like you to talk about kind of how you researched uh one of the things that we loved is you took care of your skin really well. You want to talk about that? Well, the leg you're leg, your leg.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Well, y'all give me great instructions. When I came to your office, this was a very blessed day when it was Gracie was healed enough to be introduced to my new leg. And y'all had you said my family could come, friends could come. There were students there from Kennesaw that had taken an interest in me, and uh Jason and his nurses were there, and to have him actually make that socket the very day I went in, and you go out with your leg. I've heard that's not always the case. Um so that was quite incredible. Um, and being able to stand for the first time, and I really didn't want to take her off at all. I was so happy. And Jason said, Don't you want to take it off before you go home? And I said, No, I want to wear it home. And as we were going out the door, he said, You have to take it off when you get home. Yes, please. Everyone knows she did. She did take it off. Well, I'm a rule follower. I definitely am a rule follower, and he had given me great instructions about number one, you can only wear it for about an hour in the morning and an hour at night, and each day you can increase it by 20 to 30 minutes. Uh and I followed his rules. He also had great instructions on how to take care of Gracie and the liner that goes into the socket every night. Dove for sensitive skin. I could I need to buy stock in that. Um, we wash Gracie every night with Dove for Sensitive Skin. We use it for washing the liner. We have a great little liner stand that it goes on at night so it can dry. And then I use a great night cream every night. I massage Gracie. She gets a lot of attention, but she is what I have to take care of to be able to walk for the rest of my life. So thank y'all for telling me how to take care of her. It's my job to do what you say.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Well, you do such a good job with it. It has always been so impressive to Jason and I of how seriously you take your goals and your dreams and that you see your mobility as the vehicle to get there. So I wanted to kind of turn to your mentality. So we start, and most of the listeners, I probably think you would have had them all there at that appointment if we had the space. But she walked out with her leg and she got in her car. Uh, it was pretty magical to watch you walk down the ramp and get into your car. Uh, but then after that day, you kind of hit some obstacles. Talk about how you overcame those.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Well, you don't just put her on and go. And you will get, maybe not everyone, I don't care how much you care for your leg, you are going to get little sores here and there. Um, and you have to work around that. Sometimes they will tell you, go ahead and put the leg on and just work through it. And sometimes we did that, and then other times we'd give her a tiny little break um and not put it on quite so much during the day. Um, but I I think I've just been so blessed because Gracie has done great. She had very little obstacles um to work through. And if anything wasn't working exactly as I thought, uh, Jason would have me come to the office and one evening he even came to our home late um to to make adjustments to her. So it takes a little while to get together, um, but you just keep trying till you get it. And putting her on is my job to make it right. And sometimes even a year later, I may spend 30 to 45 minutes in the morning because I want her to be comfortable, and it all depends on how I slide her into the socket when I stand, what position and I am I in when she goes down into the socket. And right now I have an adjustable foot depending on the side's heel I'm wearing. So it takes priorities. Yeah, it takes me a little bit to get used to walking with a different angle. So I walk with the walker um for the first five minutes, making sure um that I can take that step without falling. And you will fall, I think. I know I have, but not maybe only five times in the whole year. And they say don't be afraid of falling, but you do have a fear of it. But after the first fall, it's like this this isn't too bad. I can get up and go. And I couldn't wait to get back to physical therapy because I said, I need to learn how to get up. Yeah, and you have to. The first time I fell, I was fortunate my husband was standing right next to me, so he knew I didn't do anything wrong. We were standing by the sink, and I have no idea what happened, but I just started leaning to the left and just fell flat on the floor with him standing next to me, and that was hilarious. Seeing him trying to pick me up and me trying to squirm around and get that leg under me. But you just get better and better at everything, it becomes easier and easier, and you have to laugh a lot at yourself. Um, I find myself giggling when I'm by myself, and if I'm walking to a room and stump my toe, I just it's funny to me now. I don't know where that came from, but it's life's an adventure.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

No, I I love that out outlook. Um, I'm glad you brought in physical therapy. So one of the ways that we work um is with the amputee clinic, with the Longstreet Clinic, and we connect a physical therapist and Jason. What do you want to talk about Katie and what you guys have established?

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Katie, and everyone told me I was so lucky to get Katie too. She has been wonderful to me. Everyone knew I love horses and that my goal was to ride again as soon as possible. Not only did Jason and some of his people go to the barn where I keep my horse one day, Katie went to. So Jason, he actually got on a horse to feel what it was like using your leg to pull into a stirrup. And that was the day I had I had my t-shirt on. I had made that said uh caution, uh, leg in training on. So I've got such great pictures of him sitting on a horse, me with leg in training, and Katie looking up at him, learning all she could learn too. Um, those are just the type people that are in Gainesville, Georgia, and that have crossed my path. Katie would go out in the parking lot with me because I had trouble and still do on slopes. She would take me in the parking lot where there was a slope and put a belt around my waist, and we would go up and down and up and down. Um, she put me on treadmills, she had me stepping over cones. Um, when I was still learning to walk and needed an aid like the walker, she put me in a harness that has a track all around the ceiling. And it would support me if I fell, but it didn't support you unless you fell. So you were really on your own, and it took days and days to get comfortable with walking that way and making a U-turn. Um, she had me kicking a lot of balls with the prosthetic leg because that's that's a movement that you make when you take a step. I can't say enough about Katie. I was with her one solid year.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

And only uh this last month have I not been going to Katie.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

That's uh Katie's such a gift to our community. I I remember the big day where you got on cash. Well, you want to talk about uh all of the friends that came and how we had a big celebration seeing you and where you are now riding horses.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Oh one of our friends that's a builder made wooden steps up to a landing and he put rails up the stairs and on the landing and came out and measured where my stirrup, how high my stirrup was from the ground, and he made that landing that exact height so that when I climb those stairs, I just simply have to slip my foot in the stirrup. Now, Joy, her knee will bend if there's pressure put on her. So Jason programmed her to be a riding leg, which means she only had enough of a bend, would not bend any further, so that I could get on my horse and I could actually post. I can put weight in that stirrup, and it's not just gonna give way and have me fall off that side. So Jason was there, students from Kennesaw were there. There must have been 15 of my friends were there, um, and they all watched and cheered as I got to get on cash for the first time, and it was it was magical because you don't ever forget that feel. Um, it's just wonderful. And one of the people that keep their horse at the barn came to my home right after my surgery, and he said, I know you have been trying to teach cash to lay down. He said, I'd like to go ahead and finish his training if you don't mind. And I said, I would love it, but secretly I knew I've been training for a long time, and I had been working with Cash for a year, and he does everything perfectly, he gets his body in the most perfect position to lay down, and he'll raise his little front legs up and down and look at me like, okay, what else am I supposed to do? He would never lay down, but I didn't want to discourage him, and I said, sure, I would love for you to be able to teach him to lay down because it'd be easier for me to get on him if he were laying. And um, so we kind of giggle now because he probably worked for nine months on trying to teach that horse to lay down, and he still goes out there, does the little things he's supposed to do, and then looks at you like, okay, but he does not lay down at all. But we also, I did not realize this. Four other people at my barn that board there were physical therapists. One of them actually worked with prosthetic patients, and so everything just kept falling in my lap. You almost don't feel deserving of so many beautiful things uh happening in your life.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

I just I love your heart of gratitude and kind of where it comes from. One of the things I wanted to transition our conversation to is your mindset. Kind of how have you this seems like something you've carried your entire life. It's not since the accident. Why don't you talk about how you think? I think that would be powerful for our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 41:03

I've always been happy, I've always had the glass half full. I've never thought of it being empty. I don't know where the mindset came from other than the environment all around me, as far as being loved and cared for. I have great examples in my life. Our youngest great-granddaughter, Brecklin, at two and a half, had a disease called PPB, which is a soft cell cancer we didn't know she had, and she just collapsed at school one day, not even three years old. And she went to they sent her straight to Choa and said there's very little chance that she will live. But the cancer had spread from her lungs to her brain, to her spine, to her leg, and to her shoulder. And they said if she does live, she probably won't mentally mature a whole lot past where she is right now, and her hair will probably never grow from all the radiation. So her mother also is a strong, strong soldier, and she went through every chemo, every radiation, every experimental uh chemo there was. And today she's uh 12 years old, she's in all advanced classes, she speaks to numerous people on her journey and what she's been through, has the kindest, most giving heart, and has never said one thing negative. Never. Um, so she's a miracle, and then my husband is a double lung transplant patient of 21 years, who is like a poster child for lung transplants. He has never complained in his entire life. He's 81 years old, goes to work every day, and rides a Harley on the weekends. So I only have excellent examples to go by.

SPEAKER_01 43:24

Um You can't be left out. No, no, uh I love that about you. I was thinking about um we were in clinic and you talked about putting a dish up. Oh tell a story.

SPEAKER_00 43:38

Well, this actually has turned into kind of a neat thing because some days when you're tired or if your leg, if Gracie and Joy are having a small little argument with each other and it's not as comfortable to walk. And if I had had a drink in the Living room. And I think I'll just leave it here. I'm not gonna go to the trouble to take it to the kitchen. And so I started asking myself, if I had two legs, would I leave it here? And if the answer is no, I wouldn't leave it here, so I do it. So a lot of times during the day, I'll ask myself, would you do this if you had two legs? And if the answer is yes, I just do it. And one of my girlfriends who has not been feeling really well lately, the other day she told me, she said, Gloria, I have taken up what you do. She said, if I felt better, would I go do that? And she said, if the answer is yes, I get up and I go do it. So it's been it's been a neat thing.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

No, I I think that's such a powerful thing. Um, you don't have to go through limb loss to think like that. Uh everybody can consider, can I do this? And do it. And just choose to do it. No, I think that's such a powerful message. I wanted to ask, have you, since becoming a part of the limb loss community, met anybody or grown in appreciation for this community, or kind of speak to the relationships that have formed?

SPEAKER_00 45:22

Oh, definitely. I can't wait to read my emails every day because the amputee coalition has a website and people are posting, amputees are posting every day. Um they're asking quiz questions like how can I learn uh to drive, especially if their amputated leg is the right leg. And other amputees answer, and there may get 15 answers. Everyone tries to help everyone else. And I got brave enough one day to ask the question, and I said, Does anyone out there ride horses that has an above-the-knee amputation? And I immediately got an answer back from um a young lady in Colorado, and her name is Sherry, and we have become great friends. We can't wait to be able to actually get together. But she's um been a great example for me because she also is an above-the-knee amputee. She lives in Colorado in the mountains, and she's seven years out, but she has learned to ride her horse through the mountains by herself. She saddles, she would send me videos. She said, Okay, this is how I get on a horse, and she'd have a little quick video, and then there'd be another one that would come. This is how I get off a horse, and little quick videos. Um, yesterday we were on the phone for an hour because she have seven years out, she's starting to have a little bit of an issue with us a sore on her leg. She's not as fortunate as me as she has a two-hour trip to go to a prosthetist um to help her because she lives in a rural area. So it's been good for both of us. Um, but she has helped me tremendously.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

I love that. I know um right after your amputation, you actually came to the amputee coalitions event in Atlanta and got to meet some people.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

That was so great too. And it's again, it happened to be in Atlanta last year. It's in a different state every single year. And I wasn't walking yet. So I was I was still in a wheelchair. Um, and Jason came and met us at the front door and took us down and showed me the people, introduced me to the ones that make the Autobach leg, um, showed me the different feet um that you can get. Even the people with arm amputations that were there that were showing how they can do anything with that arm. They can pick things up, they can eat, they can cut with a knife. They um it's a a fascinating community of survivors.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Yeah, no, I I I love this community and we've really grown uh in love with it. And even locally here, and I I don't mind sharing this, you meet people all the time and chit-chat, and it's kind of like if you buy a white car, every car you see next is white. Why do you talk about that?

SPEAKER_00 48:49

Well, the while I was in the hospital, I started getting pictures from people. Look who I met in the grocery store, look at this fella. He rode up on a motorcycle and he is a double amputee. Um, over and over again, you I never noticed a single prosthetic leg in Gainesville, Georgia, until this happened to me. And just this week, my little um great-granddaughter Braille, um, she was out with her parents and she started pulling on her mama's skirt and she said, Mama, look, there's a girl with a leg just like Go Go's. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

No, it's it's pretty wild. I I know I told you this over the phone. Our kids were the only kids in the neighborhood when they played war pretended that their dad could build them an arm or a leg, and they didn't know. Um, and so it's talk about your grandkids and the experience of educating them on people with limb loss.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

Kids are wonderful, they are the most accepting of everything. Um, when I was in the hospital, um, and they were told um that I had lost my leg, they were all very upset, of course. The oldest at the time was it was nine years old. One of my little great-grandsons, he's the most sensitive one, I think, of all of them. And he had a really hard time, um, very upset over the fact that I was hurt, so much so that my his granddaddy, uh, my son Steve, had to go pick him up at school. And he said, Tucker, he said, I'm gonna take you up to the hospital so you can see Gogo and see that she's okay. And they came up that day and he was kind of standoffish and looking back, you know. And um, I said, Tucker, I said, Do you want to see the little short leg, you know? And we just started talking and he kind of loosened up. And then I saw him walk over to me and make a little chop move with his hand, like he was cutting my leg off. And then he said, I don't want to be rude, Coco, but does that hurt? And I said, No, not at all. We're fine. And do you know he never had another issue at all? My grand my great-granddaughters, every one of them, made bracelets that had little sayings on them or charms, and they all brought them up to the office and cards. They love crafts, so they would all make little cards for me, beautiful things. My oldest one did a 3D card that opened up into this beautiful thing. Um, and then one of my little granddaughters, the little redhead named Isla, her mother wasn't gonna bring her card up to me. And so I told her, I said, why? And she said, Gloria, she drove you, she drew you and her on the front of the card, and she drew you without a leg. And I said, Oh my gosh, definitely bring it up because that is me. And so her little card ended up being the hit of the room. Everyone that came in laughed and laughed and laughed over this cute little red-head tiny girl drawn next to a bigger lady with one leg, you know. Um the other little granddaughter that came pretty much every day with her mama, um, Remy, uh, she would come in hopping on one leg. She just stayed on one leg the whole time. She she loved the walker. Yeah. And we would go down together. Um, Dr. Cormikan said, she needs to get out of this room, y'all. Y'all take her down to the peace garden. She needs to get outside. And um, they took me outside and little little Remy, she hopped the whole way with the little walker. So um they've been fantastic about it. They ask every time they see me, it's been a year, they say, How's Gracie doing? You know, and then the little boy Tucker. His thing now is every time he sees me, he comes over and he softly kind of kicks her and he says, Can you feel it now?

SPEAKER_01 53:36

I love that because really the advice I'm hearing is that just talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

Oh, yeah, let him see it. You know, it's it's me.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

Yeah. Uh I know one of their questions we were talking in preparation of how has this changed how you see yourself? And you answered me, it hasn't. Talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

I'm me. I want to stay me. I want to keep doing the things that I do. Um, it might make me do things a little slower, not quite as fast as I would have done it. I was thrilled the day I could get in a car and drive, which really was early because I had my right leg. And that was a great sense of freedom. Um, and I I was scared of it. Um, and I thought, okay, my sister was with me, and I think one of my caregivers um that had stayed with me for a whole year was with me that day, and I said, We'll just go down the driveway and go in the neighborhood. I had driven for one block and I said, Oh, I'm good. We're going to the farm. Just you just have to do what you did.

SPEAKER_01 54:52

No, I love that. Um, when you're thinking about talking to someone who's gone through something similar to you, what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_00 55:00

Be yourself. Keep striving for the goals that you want to reach each and every day because it's a daily journey. You will keep progressing if you try, but if you don't try, you're not gonna get any further. Listen to all the advice that you're given and follow through. Don't ever give up on yourself. You'll have great days most of the time. You'll have some that aren't quite as great, but you just keep on doing because there's always gonna be the day you're just a little bit better, just a little bit better. Um, I'm a year out, and I still am practicing walking every day, um, trying to look the way I feel I want to look when I take that step. I have balls at my house that I balance my leg on. I have little wobbly things that I stand on and try um to get my balance better because our balance is different. At night, when I brush my teeth, I've already taken Gracie off. It's so easy to lean up against the sink. I try not to. I try to make myself balance on one leg. Um, younger people can hop all around the house on one leg. At 80, not so much, but please don't feel I can still balance really good on one leg. Um, and I see I get great joy in tiny improvements. But even though you get good improvements, there'll be a day it's not quite as good as you were the day before. So you can't let that get you down. You have to just push through that part, and it just then starts getting better and better again.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

That's good advice. Now you're a year out. Give some life hacks. What are some things you have found to make your life easier or new ways you do things to make sure you can accomplish your goals, activities of daily living? Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 57:13

I have to think about that one. Well, one thing I learned when I get up every morning, I go turn on the coffee pot. Yep. Well, I don't have my leg on in the morning. I have a walker. And how do you take a cup of coffee out to the porch when you've got a walker? You have to hold with both hands. And so my husband actually came up with this one. He got me a thermos. So I mix the coffee in the thermos, have the cup, and my walker has a little seat in it with the lid, so I can put things in it. And so I get it all together, walk outside with that, and then it's like having tea. I just pour my coffee and enjoy it. I have my tub set up so it's easy for me to wash Gracie every evening. Um, we do the handheld shower in the tub because I can just throw both legs over the tub and wash Gracie off and have her ready for the night. I've not had to make tremendous changes other than safety handles in all of the bathrooms, the shower. We had our shower redone so that I don't have much of a lip to go over because again, I don't wear my leg in the shower. I use a walker. None of it's been hard. It's just the learning curve of what works best for you.

SPEAKER_01 58:55

I I I hear you you you really thought about the things you wanted to continue to do, and then you made the adjustments necessary to make sure you can continue your regular life. Right. I was thinking about getting your shoes on, how you turn your foot up sometimes, and you you figured that out, or um uh it was fun. You brought all your shoes into the office so Jason could figure them out, and he felt like you were Cinderella.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

And I felt bad for Jason because my first foot I couldn't adjust. Jason had to adjust it. So I was going to his office once a week. I was saying, okay, we have a party we're going to tonight. I have to wear a little heel. And then, uh oh, in two days I'm back at physical therapy. I have to have a tennis shoe. So he was had to manually adjust that foot every time. And one day he said, Gloria, I think I have a new foot for you. You can adjust it yourself. And and it has it has been great. Um, another thing that we did have to do is like my cowboy boots that I wear to the barn, they're high. So I took them to the little shoe shop and they put a zipper down the inside um so it zips all the way to the bottom, and I can get my prosthetic foot in there, um, zip them up, and and we're good to go.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:29

I was thinking about the hose when you go water your flowers and how much you love watering your flowers.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

That was a great day because with the walker, you can't water the flowers. You couldn't use a watering can, and you certainly can't drag a hose. Um please don't. So it was a great day when I was walking well enough to walk over to the spigot and turn it on, take the hose out of this little round tub, and I can walk around and water all the flowers. I can even go up two steps on our little stepladder that's in our pantry. I can reach shelves that are high now, um, which is great. I've kind of reorganized my closet to where I have a special little shelf that I can put Joy on every night. She has her own place and plug it in. I have a drawer that's for all of her little things, like the different socks I may have to put on during the day, depending on whether Gracie wants to be big or little that day. I have all the little shrinkers that we wear at nighttime in that little drawer. And because of Gracie is misshapened somewhat because of the way she was hurt. Jason has made these little silicone forms that fit to the bottom of JC, Gracie, and go down a little down the back of my leg, which helps any little things that were kind of malformed on her to be smooth. I have a separate little place for them. I like everything in order. It makes your life easier if you have a routine, if you know exactly what you're gonna do. Um, it becomes fun to take care of. I love sitting down at night and taking care of Gracie and putting her little things away and getting everything washed and ready for the next day. This journey's not been a bad journey. People ask me about it all the time, and I've just never found anything bad. I would not choose to have this journey, but because it's chosen me, I'm gonna be happy with it and not let it change me much at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:06

No, I think that's um a powerful perspective that you've chosen not to be a victim. You've really worked very diligently to make sure your your mental state was more on the victor's side. You you have an incredible support system. I do. I wanted you to have a moment to thank them if you would like.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:25

In my heart, I thank them every single day. I was blessed in the hospital. My neighbor came over to see me. I had Jimmy and I really had never thought about whether I need care when I got home. It was so early in the game. We were just still so glad I was here and that I would be able to have a prosthetic leg. And my neighbor introduced me to a lady that became my caregiver. She had been a caregiver for his wife, and he has kept her own at his home because they became so close. And he said, Gloria, I'm not going to give her up seven days a week, but I'll give her up five. And then one of our family members said, Gloria, I I'll come the other two. And so I had someone with me seven days a week that took care of me. I don't know if I've mentioned about my daughter-in-law, Lynn. She came every day for eight weeks and took care of my wounds, which had to be changed daily. She would take me up to Dr. Cormikan's trauma clinic to have the wound vac changed, and they would have to give me heavy drugs every time we went. So that became a funny thing because you take enough drugs, you're floating. It didn't put me to sleep, it just made me float. And so we'd just be laughing and laughing when we'd go in there, and they'd take me and lay me on my stomach on this little bed. And um, I I remember thinking, I'm not touching this bed, I'm floating here. Um, so I can't even imagine people not having a support team like I had. Our sons and Jimmy went and got a chair that would lift me up from a sitting position, so I didn't have so much trouble because at the time I had the wound back still attached to me while I was in the hospital. Both of my sons said, You've got to have someone sleeping in your room at night. And so they took turns coming every single night and slept in my room. And I said, Isn't it amazing that I'm 79 years old? At the time, and I got to hear my sons snore at night. I just thought that was kind of neat because when else would you have that? Um, so I've been supported every step of the way. There's no reason for me not to be happy and joyful, and I will say my husband was very concerned about my fear of the boat. Would I be fearful of the boat? And so at the end of last year, we went back and got back on the boat. I didn't feel any fear at all. It was kind of a little harder to get on it, but but I felt no fear. The boat really didn't do anything. It was not its fault. But this year, he said, Gloria, I'd really rather you have a different boat. And so he bought bought a new boat that has a little door that opens in so I can just walk right into the boat, makes it easy. And uh he had the back of the boat has a name, and now the boat is called Let It Go. And and then there's a hat.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:15

Oh, he's got a good sense of humor. I always admired that about the both of you.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:21

So now we ride around in the boat that says let it go. We let it go. And I went and bought another hat exactly like the one that blew off because I said, I'm not gonna be afraid of that hat either.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:35

That's good. Oh, wow. Uh I've enjoyed having this opportunity to to get to know you a little bit better, allow you to share your story with our community. And I was wondering one of the things Jason does for all of our patients, if they want it, he he prays for them. And I was thinking maybe you could offer a prayer for a patient who has had a traumatic amputation and thinking about the loved ones who are all sitting in the room like your family was, wondering, what's next? The next will be good.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:06

I would love to say a prayer. This is my prayer for you, Heavenly Father. Please lay your healing hands on those facing recovery from a traumatic injury. Bring them physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Give them strength and courage to face each day with determination and hope. Help them to find joy in this difficult time. Trust in your care and your plan for their life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:39

Amen. Thank you, Gloria, for joining us. It's been a privilege to talk to you today. It's been great. Were you inspired or challenged today? If so, connect with us. Follow the links in the description box below. We want to hear from you. Until next time, thanks for listening to the Alliance Goldigger podcast.