A lot has changed for AJ since completing the AAA ride in 2006. She is now 31 years old and teaches 3^rd grade. Although she still lives in Macon, GA, AJ has more body, less hair, is taller, and has no legs. Now a bilateral below-knee amputee battling chronic infection, AJ is not a full-time walker so hopping on a bike is quite an ambitious undertaking. In fact, she thinks she’s lost her mind!

   Upon her return from AAA 2006, AJ found that she had a fractured elbow and femur due to the extremely graceful bike wreck she experienced on Route 66. As she limped around on a very sore leg, her right ankle fell apart. Two bad surgeries, a raging infection, and a blood clot later, AJ decided to take the bull by the horns and chose to have her right foot removed via the Ertl procedure on December 28, 2007.

      AJ is far from in shape (even though she does think that round is a shape) and is experiencing all the problems that come with having a recently amputated limb. She thinks, however, that many people will be able to relate to her message of “doing whatever you can do” since she is currently having to deal with physical therapy, relearning how to walk and how to perform basic daily functions, and still having the stress of work on top of it all.

      To sum it up, AJ hopes that the good people at HealthSouth don’t mistake her for a patient and try to keep her.  She hopes that, whether she’s riding a bike or walking on crutches, the people she meets along the way will see that she’s just like them and will appreciate her message even more.