Credit Where Credit is Deserved
I had an amazing weekend at the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward. And yes, it was extremely cool that I was able to pull off both wins with my torn ACL. I got a lot of great attention (see photo from Duluth Trading Company below) and heard my name and knee story announced multiple times at the competition. But after all of this hoopla and excitement, I needed some time to level my head and realize it was ONLY a knee; no superhuman feat. There are two competitors from this year’s Lumberjack World Championships who are walking miracles, one of whom hardly got any credit at all for his amazing comeback.
In February of 2007 Dave Jewett suffered renal failure. After 6 months of dialysis Dave underwent a kidney transplant thanks to his father Bill. Now, less than a year later, he is back on top as one of the World’s best lumberjacks. After a bit of a struggle early in this season, Dave finished as the top American at the Lumberjack World Championships. Dave serves as an inspiration to all of those who have undergone transplant surgeries. There is a reason why his nickname is “Super Dave”.
Iraq, December 19th 2006: JR Salzman’s convoy was hit by and IED and he lost his right hand. Multiple surgeries later, JR ended up with only four fingers on his left hand, and a prosthetic lower right arm. Not to mention traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder which is so common in wounded soldiers. After a year of treatments at Walter Reed Hospital, JR finally moved back to Wisconsin with his wife Josie, and tried to return to a somewhat “normal” life. Not long after moving back, JR was back on the log. We took a GREAT trip up to Canada in early July and JR wowed everybody with his incredible log rolling skills, despite the new balance issues with the prosthetic.
He had a bit of rough weekend at the Lumberjack World Championships, most likely do to all of the crazy attention he was getting, but he still was back at it and did his best.
In the beginning of the weekend I tried to whine and complain about me knee to both of these amazing men, and was put back in my place immediately. These guys are your real champions from the Lumberjack World Championships. Congrats boys.
Click here for a video about Dave's Journey.
I had an amazing weekend at the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward. And yes, it was extremely cool that I was able to pull off both wins with my torn ACL. I got a lot of great attention (see photo from Duluth Trading Company below) and heard my name and knee story announced multiple times at the competition. But after all of this hoopla and excitement, I needed some time to level my head and realize it was ONLY a knee; no superhuman feat. There are two competitors from this year’s Lumberjack World Championships who are walking miracles, one of whom hardly got any credit at all for his amazing comeback.
In February of 2007 Dave Jewett suffered renal failure. After 6 months of dialysis Dave underwent a kidney transplant thanks to his father Bill. Now, less than a year later, he is back on top as one of the World’s best lumberjacks. After a bit of a struggle early in this season, Dave finished as the top American at the Lumberjack World Championships. Dave serves as an inspiration to all of those who have undergone transplant surgeries. There is a reason why his nickname is “Super Dave”.
Iraq, December 19th 2006: JR Salzman’s convoy was hit by and IED and he lost his right hand. Multiple surgeries later, JR ended up with only four fingers on his left hand, and a prosthetic lower right arm. Not to mention traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder which is so common in wounded soldiers. After a year of treatments at Walter Reed Hospital, JR finally moved back to Wisconsin with his wife Josie, and tried to return to a somewhat “normal” life. Not long after moving back, JR was back on the log. We took a GREAT trip up to Canada in early July and JR wowed everybody with his incredible log rolling skills, despite the new balance issues with the prosthetic.
He had a bit of rough weekend at the Lumberjack World Championships, most likely do to all of the crazy attention he was getting, but he still was back at it and did his best.
In the beginning of the weekend I tried to whine and complain about me knee to both of these amazing men, and was put back in my place immediately. These guys are your real champions from the Lumberjack World Championships. Congrats boys.
Click here for a video about Dave's Journey.
Click here for a video about JR's Journey.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home