By FireRescue1 Staff
FISHERS, Ind. — A firefighter made history by returning to work full-time after having his right leg amputated.
WISHTV.com reported that Lt. Brandon Anderson, a 16-year veteran with the Fishers Fire Department, had his right leg amputated after a motorcycle crash in August 2016.
“An individual cut over into me and ejected me from the motorcycle, damaging my right leg,” Lt. Anderson said. “When it first happened, it’s devastating, it took all of your life and your livelihood and what you knew at that point in time and just rips it away from you in an instant.”
Lt. Anderson said he was surprised to hear that no one had heard of an above-the-knee amputee returning to their department as a fully qualified firefighter.
“It’s a very physically demanding job. We have to be able to meet those physical agility requirements on a yearly basis,” he said. “Fortunately, that’s my personality, to just adapt and overcome and to never give up.”
Ten months after the crash, Lt. Anderson passed all the physical requirements and agility tests to return to his previous position in the department.
“Full capacity, in the same operation level I was at before the accident, with no modification other than I now have a prosthetic instead of my own leg to get into my gear,” he said.
https://twitter.com/FishersIN/status/969210402922991616