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Show , . j Nothing hampers this national disabled veteran By Judy Rollins Assistant Lifestyle Editor - Vha makes PROVO ichael R Johnson run'' M- The answers easy enough evManne for the chosen this gears Outstanding Disabled Veteran by the Disabled American Veterans A guy on my right stepped on a mine I looked over and saw him blown backwards We stopped and set up our defenses its the fear of and leaving so many things undone I admit I live pretty fast and furious I rarely stop I May up as late as I can I vowed when I spent so much time m bed that once I got up. Id never stay down again So Mike fills his time with his family his what he likes job. sports and being with others He plays basketball from his wheelchair each Monday mght Last year, he coached teen boys on a basketball team, complete with a UCLA defense, to a 13 wm-- loss record Learning to use artificial legs took too long so hes content to function from a wheelchair Driving up Provo his shows he Canyon, stuck at being annoyance behind a big truck. He wont let anvthing slow him down I suppose dying 1 They loaded the guy into a truck and took him back to He wasnt hurt the base badly because they didnt call We started in a helicopter again I spread my men out so that if another mine went off it wouldn't get ev embody I went down this grassy little slope. I remember think ing, This woulc. make a perfect spot for a mine Boom I felt myself going up I knew I was m trouble when I came down I could my left leg was gone My right one was chewed up pretty bad I could smell the burnt dirt I knew I was m trouble se Hes just begun his year as the national disabled veteran It means more travel and activities to take up his time, meeting celebrities like Sammy Davis Jr, riding in parades, making public appearances, being on national teland lust evision maybe, maybe, seeing his drem Michael R Johncome true son on the cover of Sports Illustrated and featured inside in a story about his basketball prowess from a wheelchair The doctor was a great guy He explained that they'd tower the stretcher into the water and that I was to keep my chm up and to breathe He never left my side He talked to me all the time I spent so much time there that one day lie brought some boats he d bought He worked and 1 played with the boats All I said was. Doc, it hurts But 1 don t remember any pain I guess the brain just shuts it out Somebody called for a helicopter That meant it was bad. This guy tned to get me to say The Lords Prayer, but I couldnt remember the words Then he started through it but I passed out Mike woke up in bed with tubes coming out all over He was kept under heavy sedation so there was little remembrance of pain It was the start of the Tet offensive and that night the hospital was shelled Lost His Legs 30, 1968, two weeks after his 20th birthday, Mike stepped on a mine in Vietnam He lost his right leg above the knee, his left leg at the hip, two fingers and a thumb on his left hand and the middle good" right finger on his hand He has a steel plate in his forehead He got metal m both eyes and the powder bums are still there on his face and hands A piece of shrapnel took a big chunk out of one forearm On Changing bandages was another trauma Hed heard and seen a man with bad wounds his dressings were when cnar.ged Hed decided there would be none of that for him So, they too him to the operating room the first tune and gave him an anesthetic Aftei that, theyd lower his stretcher into a whirlpool bath so the water would looosen the bandages Jan He admits to having grown up a lot m five years He came to Brigham Young Unifrom Huntington, versity VV Va but , to study did too much mountain climbing, hunting and fishing and joined the Marines before he was drafted because thats what hi., dad had been pre-me- My dad tried to tell me what w'ould happen when I got away at school I got out of high school and didnt have anything else m mind so I said, I guess 1 11 be a doctor It was phony My dad knows me best and he thought I was crazy He gave me one year at school Hewasnght I was a lazy bum I spent a lot of time in the mountains Id just go off to be by myself I used to wonder how I could explain West Virginia the headlines Falls Off Squaw Student Peak Everything he does is at top speed whether its zipping down the driveway with a start that would make a soap box derby racer proud and rolling downhill to dinner with Vernon Law, BYU pitching coach, and his family or rearback tires ing back on the big of his wheelchair in a wheelie When he rolls down the gravel embankment to the edge of the Provo River, theres no stopping until the front wheels are m the water If he can persuade a friend to go along, he can fish from a rubber raft out in the middle of the stream If loving to fish is immature, I hope I never grow up I like fishing over anything Finished Second He finished second m his Manne Corps training class and was sh.pped off to Vietnam for seven months of fighting W. were with a group of Our job engmeeis that day was to sweep a road for mines There were 10 or 12 of us on each side It was a pretty day, hot with no ram Nothing unusual Just another day Family and friends visited often When they couldn't be with him, there were letters His brother, and goodies Steve, a member of the BYU baseball team, and a cousin stayed with him much of the summer while he was at Be- e, I woke up to shooting and screaming The nurses wore helmets They were moving men out of the wards and into bunkers The nurse was holding a light while a doctor worked on my left hand. When the firing got heavy, they put me under the bed, put a mattress on top, gave me a pain shot and said theyd be back as soon as they could He was sent to The Philippines for treatment His parents had been told not to expect him to live Each operation meant cutting higher and higher trying to save what was left of his legs Two weeks after the accident, he called home. His dad gave a party that night He had felt all along that if and when they heard from Mike everytlung would be all right Stitches Broke On the flight back to the States, the stitches in his right leg broke so the plane was landed in Japan and he was whisked to the hospital in an ambulance They started him out on the bus, but he would have bled to death if some medical corpsman hadn't noticed how much blood he was losing Doctors used stainless steel to close the wound this time Every time I touched one of those stitches, it zapped me His mother and father met him at the Bethesda, Md , Naval Hospital My mother was better than Dad He was . . . well, dismayed is putting it mildly I could tell he was shocked I guess they didnt realize how bad I really was. My dad would come into the room, say a word or two and then hed have to go out into the hall. Then hed come back after he'd calmed down Then hed have to go out again My mother faced reality better. She did go outside and cry a couple of times I didnt need her to cry in front of me Doctors him from medicine similar to through turkey thesda Hates Luck the word, hates Mike luck There was no luck involved with his being alive, only good friends and competent medical attention and his will to bve I wanted to live Id get down some days, but my family wouldnt let me give up They talked me out of a lot of depression 1 started concen- all the thngs I could still do and not on what I couldnt do. But I remember lying m bed, feeling bad and my dad rubbing my head and telling me I had to fight His routine changed abruptly with a transfer to another hospital in Philadelphia. I was used to spending hour after hour, night after night watchi g the clock and waiting for my next shot The whole thing bordered on the ridiculous. You just lie there and wonder what problem the next hour or the next day will bring My hands were bad so I couldnt hold a book to trating on He was in one of six wards with from 70 to 80 men in a ward who had lost arms or legs Nobody felt sorry for him The attitude was one of get off your duff and get living So he did. He got into a wheelchair and started learnand do ing how to get around fer himself And he found out there were lots of others worse off than he Moaning and groaning was a regular part of the routine It was a time of much antiwar activity and demonstrations It upset some of the Mikes philosophy veterans. was and still is that people shouldnt about complain something until theyve experienced it I dont mind protest when its valid and when people what theyre talking about But I get the feeling a lot of protesters dont know' Griping around the ward was what kept all of us going I thought it was a healthy sign We were all feeling well enough to give somebody else best-fam- trouble I got the feeling that the philosophy was if youre going to live you might as well make it as good as possible So wed spend lots of time horsing around racing wheelchairs or talking Id decided then that Id better get on with living Id been drifting before But I was putting on weight and feeling better I made some good friends Companionship was important But Ive lost track of most of them now He transfered to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City because they had a good hand surgeon, there were many family members close by and he had a girl fnend That year he got hepatitis that almost killed him and then developed cancer m the stumps of his legs The cancer scared him because he didnt know how to fight it He broke up the time with three trips home First thing he did when re- leased was spend lots money fast First, he bought fishing gear, then a fast car with manually controlled gas feed and brakes and then an ail terrain vehicle to get him back up into the mountains of decided to withdraw much of the pam The experience was what an addict goes when quitting cold Since his release from the hospital, hes maimed and is the father of a son, Casey Hes gone back to school and as an engineering works draftsman for the Bureau of Reclamation m Provo. Finding a job was no problem People want to hire guys like me d saying 1 was sick is putting it mildly. I took turns with chilling and burning fever and shakmg all the Mine I couldnt eat anything Aithout getting sick I got so I could throw up into a pop bottle I was skin and bones A family fnend from West Virginia suyed with him two weeks and got him his first a bologna square meal when it was all sandwich over take time to slow down. He fills time with ily, working as what he likes Michael R. Johnson of Provo, recently named Outstanding Disabled Veteran, cant read He still hunts and fishes, bu Its not nusual to score 30 points a game in basketball Hed like to get an exhibition game I suppose draftsman, keeping in top physical shape with sports, fishing and being with others. its the fear of dying and leaving so many furious. I things undone. I admit I live pretty fast and I vowed when I spent so much time in bed rarely stop that once I up. Id never stay down again, says Michael R. Johnson, Outstanding Disabled Veteran. ... Wed all play from chairs Wed bum them wheelI love to play for a crowd. Im a real showboat When I pass behind my back, the crowd eats it up. Hes bothered that he can no longer tie flies The knotting is impossible Hes a good shot and a great fisherman, but hed starve to death if he had to fix his own meals. supply got a food downstairs in the freezer, but theyd find my body sprawled out next to it if I had to cook it myself Ive of He wont let anyone help him get his wheelchair into the car He doesn't want to get fat and sloppy So he uses lus hands and arms and swings out of his wheelchair onto the right seat of the car He reaches out, folds up the steel chair and gets the front wheels up and into the back floor space Then he swings over to the drivers side and reaches behind the seat to tug the chair inside His arm muscles testify to his strength I still have lots of mobility. coordination has always been good I didnt have time to learn to use artificial legs There really wasnt enough left of my left leg The artificial leg pushed against bare bone and it hurt My was pretty up on those things. When you figure I was O er 6 feet, it seems like a long way to fall But I did wear them long enough to stand for my wedding Besides, it scary getting Mike spends ball. Hes his Monday night playing scored 30 points in most basket- games. like to get a game the Utah Stars with going Id h His interest in architecture is evident m lus new home in Provos foothills. Theres a ramp to he front and side doors and the garage can be opened and shut from his car. Featured in Movie Hes been featured in a movie made for television It was shown at the August convention where he got his award He called It a choker, a good flick People who stare annoy him. Theres no embarrassment for him Nor does he want pity It I don't need sympathy doesnt do me any good I do I wanted to cry when I I'm more need friendship extroverted than ever I do saw it. Sammy Davis cned. I get down sometimes And I think about half the people guess Im hard to live with I there did. Not because lfs dont deny wishing that none about me. Its just well done. of this had happened But feel-- ,1 just keep thinking about all the time I spent up in the ing sorry for yourself accom'mountains and the final lines plishes nothing His parents were told after from the sound track, Td each new medical crisis that really like to climb that mountain some day. their son could have died te se cant go by himself going Thats why I run. The pain is gone except for when I sit too long and my tailbone hurts I know I push myself too hard. Theyd have to tie me up to stop me now. Im excited about what jaces me this year. I depend a lot on having people around Tribune photos by Tim Kelly |