Amputees Across America Finishes Cycle Trip

The Ertl Amputees Across America trio finished their 58-day, 3,500-mile journey July 31 at Vero Beach, Florida. The riders started off from Tustin, California, June 5.

This is the fifth year for the epic trek across America, as the three amputees bring hope and inspiration to thousands of persons with disabilities. The three riders--Joe Sapere, 65; Gary Summers, 52; and Amber "AJ" Johnson, 29--visited over 26 rehabilitation hospitals, predominantly HealthSouth hospitals.

In partnership with HealthSouth Corporation, based in Birmingham, Alabama and Ohio Willow Wood, Mt. Sterling, Ohio, Sapere founded Amputees Across America. His goal, Sapere said, is to demonstrate that life gets better despite amputation. Each year two other riders join Sapere for the bicycling and skydiving trip.

Sapere, a colonel in the US Air Force, retired in 1989 and began a second career in elementary school teaching. An avid skydiver and cyclist, Sapere lost a leg below the knee in a skydiving accident, but after ten months of rehab, he returned to the sport. He includes some skydives in each year's Amputees Across America trip.

Gary Summers, a left transfemoral amputee, lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. A.J. Johnson's ankles were crushed in a car wreck when she was 17. One of the ankles became so painful that the goal of being a normal active young adult seemed lost. Johnson decided to request the amputation of her foot and ankle via an Ertl-type amputation, and has since regained much more mobility and enjoyment of life.

Sponsors for the event included gold sponsor HealthSouth Corporation; silver sponsors Ohio Willow Wood, the Barr Foundation, Boca Raton, Florida; and Alabama Artificial Limb and Orthopedic Service Inc., Montgomery, Alabama.

The host support group was the Alabama Association for the Physically Challenged. The riders are consumer advocates for the Ertl amputation surgical procedure ( www.ertlreconstruction.com ) and rode bicycles manufactured by Bacchetta, St. Petersburg, Florida ( www.bacchettabikes.com ). A grant from the Jonathan M. Houy Memorial Fund helped support the ride, and other boosters and supporters also helped make this year's ride a success.

For more information about the 2006 Amputees Across America trip, including day-by-day accounts of their adventures, laced with humor, visit www.amputeesacrossamerica.com

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