About
My name is Todd Barrone, I am a 47 year old male amputee living in West Central Missouri. A 4th generation woodworker, I had the proud privilege to growing up around a vast majority of craftsman such as cabinet makers and carpenters. My grandfather started a construction company in 1946 in Las Vegas, NV; they started out making table games for the casinos. Later they became a general contractor where my uncle took over in 1980. I worked there for many years where I learned some carpentry and earthmoving equipment skills. I then went on to trucking for many years till 2012, I decided I was gone from home too much and felt led by the Lord to go back to my roots. I didn't know much about furniture building, but was ready to learn, got some help from an ex Amish friend of mine and so begun the lesson, I guess you could say I was Amish trained ha-ha. I loved it so much that in 2015 I bought my first sawmill. Milling wood was quite the deal, to cut open a log and to see what God had made for us to use was quite exciting. It was truly rugged work, didn't have fancy machines like a tractor or forklift, we move our wood around by brute force. It was still a fun and rewarding thing, making your own boards was cool, we took logs from the forest and turned them into pieces that you would put in your living room or bedroom, forest to home was my motto. In 2017 I was forced to sell my mill due to health reasons, rheumatoid arthritis in both shoulders and the osteomyelitis in my right foot made these tasks next to impossible. Thanks to my family, they helped through some of the big projects that I just couldn't do without help, spent a lot of time with a picc line in my arm and my right foot in a cast. After two or three trips a week to the wound clinic for three months my right foot condition deteriorated. At the end January of 2018 I almost lost the fight. I became deathly ill with bad infection in my right foot and after a near death and three days in ICU , my wife & I decided to let them amputate the right foot. My kidneys took a bit of a toll due to the powerful antibiotics they had me on, fortunately they have improved since then and my doctor keeps a close eye on my labs.
January 27th my life changed forever, it will never be the same, so you have to ask yourself a question, "what's the alternative"?
January 27th my life changed forever, it will never be the same, so you have to ask yourself a question, "what's the alternative"?
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For me it was real simple, either let it win and get you down, keep you depressed, or kick it in the butt and push forward. I give this glory all to God, without God and my faith, not sure how this would have turned out. It is obvious to me that God has plans for me; I say that because I am still here, it could have just as easily gone the other way. The power of prayer is awesome and it works. So, a week after the amputation, I was sent to rehab to learn wheelchair life, all I can say is being confined to a wheelchair sucks. I was very fortunate to go to rehab, they did teach me quite a bit and with me being a big guy, it sure helped. It was a tough thing and I was glad I did have the upper body strength I did have, because you use muscles you didn't know you had and getting in and out of the chair takes muscle. Of course this didn't help my shoulders any, but it beats the alternative. I did have some awesome rehab people; they did a great job and helped me through it. After ten days they sent me home to continue to heal. I did have a couple of wheelchair crashes and fell a couple of times, but praise God we healed up nicely. My doctor was very happy how we healed up. Then came the fitting for my 1st prosthetic leg, Next… In May I went back to rehab to learn prosthetic life, it was scary at first. The changing constantly of stump socks and things like that overwhelmed me a bit. They made it sound very confusing and a little intimidating. I was afraid I couldn't do it, I set my self up for disappointment at first and that didn't help. Your mind thinks that you should be able to just strap on this leg and you’re walking like you did before. No! It doesn't work like that, then reality slaps you and brings you back to real life. Like everything else, we motored through it "what's the alternative" is what I say. I am on my second leg going to be sized again in the near future leg number three, they say in the first year you will probably go through two or three legs. You do a lot of lower extremity shrinking in your first year. Then you have that battle some days you might swell and not be able to even where your leg, ugh.
It's funny throughout this whole process; I would have people come up to me asking "how are you really?" I guess that was a way to see if I still have all my marbles, some have told me they just can't imagine going through such an ordeal. Trust me it's not easy, I do have my share of frustration, there has been some mornings getting dressed and get frustrated and yell "I hate being handicapped". Sometimes I would get angry because I am handicapped, that's when I say a prayer and ask myself "what's the alternative Barrone?” Is this depression or displays of behavioral anxiety some might say yes or even saying it is PTSD. For the most part I am just a person having a moment or sometimes a bad day. My faith is my strength, that's what gets me through this, God, my family and my church family helps me move forward. Some friends I know have a harder time with this than me and I am the one with the amputation. So, you have read my story and want to know why, well I am telling people my story to help them. I have volunteered to be part of a peer support program and have not sparked any interest but I know there are many out there who need some help and might not know how to get it. After lots of prayers and long thought, I decide I need to help others like me. They see magazine articles about a select few, but what about every day amputees, amputees struggling to feed a family, amputees facing every day issues. To help others see that just because you have an amputation does not mean life is over. It’s tough being an Amputee, I still face challenges all the time. I am addressing things from public restrooms to stump socks; to how do you drive your car. So I invite you to journey with me and we will get through this, besides "what's the alternative?"
It's funny throughout this whole process; I would have people come up to me asking "how are you really?" I guess that was a way to see if I still have all my marbles, some have told me they just can't imagine going through such an ordeal. Trust me it's not easy, I do have my share of frustration, there has been some mornings getting dressed and get frustrated and yell "I hate being handicapped". Sometimes I would get angry because I am handicapped, that's when I say a prayer and ask myself "what's the alternative Barrone?” Is this depression or displays of behavioral anxiety some might say yes or even saying it is PTSD. For the most part I am just a person having a moment or sometimes a bad day. My faith is my strength, that's what gets me through this, God, my family and my church family helps me move forward. Some friends I know have a harder time with this than me and I am the one with the amputation. So, you have read my story and want to know why, well I am telling people my story to help them. I have volunteered to be part of a peer support program and have not sparked any interest but I know there are many out there who need some help and might not know how to get it. After lots of prayers and long thought, I decide I need to help others like me. They see magazine articles about a select few, but what about every day amputees, amputees struggling to feed a family, amputees facing every day issues. To help others see that just because you have an amputation does not mean life is over. It’s tough being an Amputee, I still face challenges all the time. I am addressing things from public restrooms to stump socks; to how do you drive your car. So I invite you to journey with me and we will get through this, besides "what's the alternative?"
