Amputee helps others get a leg up in world

There are few things John Ficklin can't do and nothing he won't try.

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Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

John Ficklin, 51, lost his left leg in three surgeries over five years. He volunteers as a peer counselor, helping those going through the same trauma he faced.

The 51-year-old horseback-riding, basketball-playing, karate-kicking leg amputee refuses to let his disability get in the way of living. And he's found his calling in sharing that view with others.

At least two days a week, Mr. Ficklin volunteers as a peer supporter at Walton Rehabilitation Health System. It's not always an easy task to bring people out of the shock of losing a limb, but Mr. Ficklin serves as an example that life can go on.

"You can live," he said. "You can do a lot of stuff that you think you can't do. But you've got to put it in your mind, and you've got to make your own mind up."

Mr. Ficklin, a diabetic since age 23 and now on dialysis, said he had his leg removed in three surgeries over about a five-year period. He regrets the loss but said he has no one to blame but himself.

"If I'd have did right when I was young, I'd probably have my leg now," he said. "I was 23, 245 pounds, 19 (inches) in my arms, body building, karate, running, doing all kinds of stuff. You don't think about it."

Immediately after the surgery, Mr. Ficklin said, he went into shock from the trauma. He couldn't be alone for long periods of time and spent days thinking of all the things he could no longer do.

But through his rehabilitation program at Walton Rehab and with the help of an artificial leg, that all changed, he said.

"I never could have made it if it hadn't been for them, the people down there at Walton," he said. "It turned my whole life around."

For that reason, he said, he spends his weeks counseling others who need a push to get on with life again after surgery.

One of his toughest was a 16-year-old who lost his leg in a car wreck. Mr. Ficklin said the boy was distraught and withdrawn when he arrived for counseling, but he left seeing what could be accomplished if he believed in himself.

"I got him on his way," Mr. Ficklin said. "Life ain't over because you have one leg."

Reach Adam Folk at (706) 823-3339 or adam.folk@augustachronicle.com.