My name is Bill Vanover.  I’m 44 years young and hail from the great Commonwealth of Kentucky where I’ve lived practically all my life (except for two years spent in Natchitoches, LA).  The youngest of six children, I attended Morehead State University for two years where I met my beautiful wife, Trisha.  We were married in 1981 and have three wonderful children, Kyle, 23, Jason, 20 and Mandi, 15. 

I am a left leg, below knee amputee as a result of an on-the-job accident in November of 1982 when a tractor I was on flipped over on a hillside completely severing my left foot.  Doctors tried to reattach my foot, but after 11 days, the decision was made to amputate.   I was left with a very long stump and as a result, the fitting of a prosthesis was much more difficult.  I tried returning to work after almost a year, but complications with my prosthesis not fitting properly caused numerous skin breakdowns making it almost impossible for me to perform my job without a great deal of pain.  Doctors advised me that I should shorten my stump an extra 4 inches which would allow for a better prosthetic fit.  Just before surgery, the doctor and prosthetist were ready to wheel me into surgery and asked if there was anything I wanted to say.  I looked the doctor right in the eye and told him that all my life I had been short (5’7”) and asked them if, while they were in there if they could take my other leg off too and make me two longer legs that would put me over 6’ tall!!!  They looked at each other, shook their heads in disbelief and wheeled me in for the surgery!  Upon waking up, I began to worry and HOPED that they knew I was only joking.  I quickly made a scan of my lower body and was very relieved to find out that I still had ONE GOOD LEG! 

Over the years I’ve tried very hard to remain active, coaching lots of Little League baseball, playing basketball and softball through a church league and running a couple of 5K’s.  I returned to work after my second operation and have been with Tennessee Gas Pipeline (El Paso Corporation), for 24 years.  I currently work as a Cross Functional Technician, serving as the Environmental and Safety Coordinator for two locations in Kentucky.  I don’t know this to be a fact, but I may very well be the BEST ONE-LEGGED SAFETY COORDINATOR in the country!!!  All I need to do is peel that leg off and say “Safen up ya’ll, or this could happen to you!!!”

I bought a bicycle a little over a year ago and upon learning about Amputees Across America, I knew that it was for me.  Offering others hope in the face of adversity gives me a great deal of satisfaction and purpose.  I have a good idea of what these people are thinking and going through.  There are so many questions and it’s good to know that there are others out there who understand them.  While in the hospital myself, a man came to see me with a cane.  He told me that he had the same doctor as I had.  As it went, he had lost both his legs in an accident.  And although he was using a cane, he encouraged me in the fact that the only reason he was using a cane was because he’d pulled a back muscle while hunting in the hills of West Virginia!  This man has no idea of the impact he had on my life.  I have never forgotten him, although I never even got his name.  I hope to be able to offer the same amount of hope and encouragement to other amputees along the way as this man did for me.