Lefty's Lessons

continued

The next oldest in the group is a thirty-four-year-old police officer. While working the graveyard shift a few years ago, he approached a man illegally parked in a handicap spot. "Come on, man, there aren't any handicapped people out at this time of night," was the man's excuse. The officer rolled up his right pants leg and both men stared at the titanium shaft that is his leg. He asked the man, "Where should we be at this time of night?"

The oldest member is a seventy-eight-year-old man with diabetes. He struggles to control his illness and has a missing leg to prove it. Every year he spends a few days after Christmas in the hospital getting his blood sugar corrected; the cookies and ham beat him every time.

The dog is certainly the most improbable member of the group. She was destined to be an amputee from birth; a deformed right leg gave Lefty a one-way ticket from her breeder's house to the animal shelter. Jane Sprayberry, a U-M nurse, adopted her. A surgeon removed the deformed leg, and, as soon as the stitches came out, Sprayberry asked the group if she and Lefty could join it.

Naturally, the members treated the idea of allowing a dog to attend their meetings with caution; this is a serious group, not a Saturday Night Live skit. But they were immediately intrigued when they saw her. A former Marine and fellow amputee voiced the group consensus, saying, "I feel your pain, buddy."