‘It’s crazy. You can walk already’
After years of pain and struggle, Chris Garner takes his first steps with his new leg
His cheering squad of one stands at the end of the parallel bars, holding two smartphones. Framed in the video screen is her dad, Chris Garner.
This might be one of the most anticipated days of his life.
It’s the day he gets his leg. The day he takes his first steps on two legs, without pain.
For some four years he lived with pain so extreme, he wanted his leg amputated. He couldn’t sleep. Lost weight. And struggled to be active with his three kids.
After being seen by a revolving door of specialists, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in cancer tumours at Mount Sinai agreed to perform the surgery in August.
This summer, recovering on the sofa of his home in Niagara Falls, he had his heart set on taking his first steps in early September, to celebrate his 39th birthday.
That was a bit too ambitious. It took a few more weeks for his leg to heal. And after a couple appointments with Bryn Jones, a certified prosthetist at Niagara Prosthetics and Orthotics, to custom make and adjust the leg socket, he arrived one afternoon with his 12-year-old daughter, Jaiden, ready to walk.
His eight-year-old son, Brennan and mother, Judy White, were also supposed to be here until Brennan got sick and Judy had to stay home with him.
“Are you excited?” asks Jaiden.
“Yes honey, very excited.”
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Garner’s first leg will be a training prosthesis.
Over time, his stump will heal and get smaller, as the muscles that were once attached to his lower leg aren’t worked anymore, says Jones.
He tells Garner: “That’s not going to be your show-off muscle anymore.”
Eventually, Garner will get a permanent prosthesis — a new carbon fibre socket, lightweight and durable, fitted to the leg post and foot he already has. Garner will personalize it with a Boston Bruins logo, he says.
The training leg costs about $10,000, paid for by Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program, the Ontario Disability Support Program and The War Amps. Other times, amputees use their private insurance or pay a portion out of pocket, says Jones.
The final leg socket will cost another $5,000.
At one of his appointments, Garner wore a bright red t-shirt with the words, This leg is taking a lot longer than expected to grow back.
“The ones who do the best have fun with it,” says Jones.
“It’s who I am now,” says Garner. “I’m proud of it and I’m going to be walking again.”
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It’s been about four years since he walked on two legs without canes, free of debilitating pain. Diagnosed with recurring noncancerous bone tumours growing in his left leg, he had multiple surgeries to remove them. During one operation, the top part his fibia – the smaller leg bone – shattered and his bigger tibia was left to support his full weight.
Pain was so extreme, he couldn’t work or even play with his kids.
After the amputation, the pain was gone. He ate better and gained weight. Slept better and had more energy. “I can barely keep food in the house,” he says.
Faced with a second chance at life, he pushed himself in physiotherapy to gain strength and flexibility.
And on this day, he is exactly where he wanted to be. Standing on two legs, hands gripped around silver parallel bars, facing his daughter. As she held the two phones that would record this moment, he took his first steps with his new leg.
And then, he let go of the bars. Hands free, he walked the length of parallel bars. Not exactly smiling and eyes cast to the floor, but none-the-less ecstatic inside. He hopes to surprise his friends one day, he says. “I just wanted to show up somewhere and just be walking.”
He might not be that far off. Watching a few steps away, Jones is impressed. “Based on what I’m seeing, you’ll be on to one cane soon,” he tells Garner.
A prosthetic leg means freedom. “I can’t wait to ditch these,” he says, motioning his two arm crutches resting against one of the posts.
And then, he chances the big question: “Do I get to take this home with me today?”
Not yet. He’ll need a few gait training appointments with a physio in order to learn how to walk confidently again, says Jones.
Fact is, he’s way ahead of the typical amputee who takes several appointments just to be able to walk hands free between the bars. Usually, they progress to a walker, then canes before walking without aids, if at all, he says.
Garner will eventually learn to recognize where his prosthetic foot is on the ground by the feelings of his leg in the socket. “He’s going to have to build a level of trust,” says Jones.
“And as he learns to trust it, he’ll just go.
“It’s like taking training legs off a bike.”
Garner is determined. On the way back to Jones’ office he pauses, holds his crutches in one hand and walks, slowly but on his own two legs.
His daughter snugs up on a chair beside Garner.
“It’s crazy. You can walk already,” she says.
He smiles. “I’m telling you,” he says. “I’m ready.”