Can a soldier with a lost limb learn to surf again?
Soldiers who lost limbs learn to surf By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago PISMO BEACH, Calif. – As a child of 1970s California, Derek McGinnis felt that riding waves was like a birthright, and losing his left leg to a suicide bomber in Iraq wasn’t going to stop him from surfing again. So, he rallied nearly a dozen other wounded-in-action amputees he met in a military hospital and brought them to one of California’s last old-fashioned beach towns. For some of them, the roiling ocean was a second home. The closest others had come to riding waves were movies. McGinnis brought determination. “I have a board and (have to) make sure I keep on using it,” said McGinnis, 28, a Navy petty officer and medic who began surfing at 10 in Northern California. “I said ‘Man, I’ve got to be able to do it. It’s possible.'” So there he stood one foggy August morning, with an ear-to-ear grin and wearing a brand new wet suit. With him on the beach was Tim Brumley, who had never handled a s
A soldier who has lost a limb can either learn to surf or actually surf again if they used to do it prior to losing the limb. On http://www.ampsurf.com/ you can learn about the courageous efforts of soldiers who are getting into surfing. Some are missing arms, and some are missing legs. A few use prosthetics, but some don’t use anything. They just get out there and ride the waves in. Sources: http://www.ampsurf.
Navy corpsman Derek McGinnis knew that losing his left leg to a suicide bomber wouldn’t stop him from surfing again. As a child of 1970s California, riding waves felt like a birthright. So he rallied nearly a dozen other wounded-in-action amputees he met while recovering in Texas and headed for one of California’s last old-fashioned beach towns. The roiling ocean was a second home to some. The closest others had come to riding a wave were B-movie inspired dreams. All were to learn from a champion surfer who himself had just one leg. Sources: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/02/state/n104007D98.
