One foot out the door
At the young age of 23, Joseph Pleban had every right to be bitter, sad, and downcast when he found out that he had to have his left foot amputated due to complications from a condition called “pigmented villonodular synovitis,” a rare disease that resulted in benign tumors growing in his ankle. Surgery and radiation had temporarily stopped the tumors’ growth, but had left him with arthritis, which made it difficult to walk without crutches or a cane. Eventually, the tumors came back, causing him even more pain. Doctors told Pleban they could fuse his ankle, but advised him that if they did so, he would be left with a permanent limp and be unable to run or enjoy the sports he grew up playing. This also could have been a devastating blow for Pleban, who was athletic and a lover of life, and no one would have been surprised if his prognosis had left him despondent, but as it turned out, it was Pleban who proved to be surprising by being anything but despondent. In fact, he made the decision … the choice … to have a good attitude about his future and created a hilarious Facebook page and photo album titled “The Last Adventures of Joe’s Left Foot.”
After setting the date for the amputation, Pleban and his girlfriend spent the next few weeks checking off items from Pleban’s leg “bucket list” … activities such as going skydiving, scuba diving and even getting a “non-permanent, permanent tattoo” on the body part(s) he would soon lose. The tattoo showed a dotted line encircling his ankle with the instructions “Please cut here.” They also took photographs of Pleban’s foot in faux-perilous situations.
“We knew it was the logical decision,” Pleban said of his choice to have an elective amputation. “I’d be way more active on a prosthetic. On paper amputation makes way more sense. Emotionally it took a little longer to come around.”
Indeed, in his private moments, we have little doubt that Pleban experienced moments of fear and doubt, but he never chose to display such feelings in public. Instead he opted to give himself and, more importantly, everyone who cared about him a precious gift – that of a good attitude. Seeing his light-heartedness and apparent bravery, those who might have wept for him instead laughed with him. Those who might have been afraid for him instead became brave and sure that he would be OK. Again, what a precious gift. Even after the amputation, which took place at the end of June, Pleban maintained his light-hearted demeanor. While still recovering in the hospital, whenever the nurses came back from getting his medication he’d put on a long beard and “complain,” “What took you so long? I’ve been waiting here forever!”’
His good spirits never ended and continue to this day
We were drawn to Pleban’s story because for us, it serves as a shining example of the importance of maintaining a good attitude, even through the hard times … especially through the hard times. Not only did Pleban help himself by doing so, but he also showed great compassion for others by easing their pain.
Throughout history, great thinkers have stressed the importance of a good attitude. Hubert Humphrey once observed, "Oh my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left." Robert Brault wrote, "There are exactly as many special occasions in life as we choose to celebrate." Franesca Reigler stated, "Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same." Mary Engelbreit said, "If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it." And finally, Katherine Mansfield said, "Could we change our attitude, we should only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different." You get the picture. To this list of positive people we would add the name of Joseph Pleban, who realized the reality of the fact that, as we have often heard, attitude is everything and can change our lives.
A good attitude is contagious. Is your’s worth catching?