BOISE, Idaho — Kevin Willett lost his right leg a little over a year ago when a car crashed into his motorcycle at a four way stop.
After a ten-year career in the Army where Willett earned the position of as the crew chief on his medivac team, he was on his way to EMT school when the crash happened and now he just wants to be able to run again.
We met up with Kevin at a mobility clinic in Boise where Kevin and Lilianna Bridge were presented with a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation where they received a new Ossur Flex Run with Nike Sole sports feet.
"It’s amazing, I used to run like five or six miles a day for fun," said Willett. "I’m very excited to get this and I love running, hopefully I can do a marathon or something."
Ossur is an Icelandic company on the forefront of pioneering prosthetic limbs and they have been a partner of the Challenged Athletes Foundation since 1971.
Lilianna Bridge lost her left leg a little over a year ago, she was diagnosed with a bone tumor in her heel at the age of nine, after complications her doctors believed amputation was the best course of action.
"I’m really lucky to have this," said Bridge. "What they are doing is amazing and how many volunteers that came out today it is crazy, this is not what I was expecting at all so this is really amazing."
Both Kevin and Lilianna participated in a mobility clinic where around 30 people who came from all over the country learned to walk, run and get a feel for their prosthetic limb.
“It’s a really cool thing because you get to re-live that moment, it has been 20 years I've been an amputee," said Travis Ricks, an ambassador for Ossur and CAF. "Knowing they are on a path to do some amazing things because of this opportunity is a great feeling."
Volunteers, including a pair of Paralympic athletes put together drills with coaching and the people participating got to go through the process together.
"You get to see the smiles on their face," said Ricks. "You get to see them doing something they thought they would never do again."
Lilianne Bridge was all smiles as she came from Sun Valley for the clinic, this 19-year old was a little nervous, but excited at the same time.
"I’ll grow and evolve from this point, but I hope I pick it up pretty fast," said Bridge.
Kevin's crash altered his path he's no longer training to become an EMT, he wants to do something else and perhaps meeting Mayor Lauren McLean at this event will help with that.
"I’m looking at becoming a cop here in Boise so we will see how that goes," said Willett.
The Challenged Athletes Foundation has funded more than 44,000 grants by raising $159 million since 1994 and we have seen so many adaptive athletes enjoy those grants here in Idaho.
Boise is becoming well known as a premier destination for adaptive athletes and that will rise to a whole new level when the Idaho Fieldhouse opens later this year, this building will serve as the new home for Idaho CAF and Mission 43.
