Being alive greatest Christmas gift after motorcycle crash

In the hospital, she remembers asking her husband to adjust her leg because it didn’t feel right and neither did her arms. They were both broken, one in two places. Shortly after that she learned her leg would be amputated. But in a funny way at the time she remembers being more disappointed because she would also lose a breast cancer awareness tattoo on her ankle.

“I think the surgeon kind of had a little chuckle when I had said, ‘Damn I just got that tattoo,” Biesenthal laughs.

In the weeks and months that followed, her strength came from her family, her friends and even complete strangers as she began documenting her progress in videos on Facebook.

“I would always wear a funny hat or something because I didn’t ever want people watching them to be upset by what happened to me. I always wanted them to get a laugh out of it and know that I was doing okay,” Biesenthal said.

After two months at Wascana Rehabilitation Centre, Biesenthal moved home. She had to get a wheelchair lift installed and buy a second small chair to fit through the bathroom door.

But she was grateful for a return to normalcy and for the comfort of her dog Crisper who wouldn’t leave her side. Even during the interview, when she is overcome with emotion, the little golden-haired dog jumps up on her lap to cuddle.

“I think because I was hit by someone who was having a heart attack – the odds of that ever happening – I used to say I had a better chance of winning the lottery,” she said.

“I didn’t really think about it until about a month after I initially said it I thought, you know what, I had won the lottery. I really did.”

That positive attitude has carried Biesenthal through a very difficult and painful journey to walk again.

On the day of the interview, she is taking a break from her prosthetic leg, sore after a long day of physical therapy which included a game of floor hockey. She says each day it gets easier, but she still remembers the first painful steps.

“I remember the first time that I stood up out of bed at therapy with only having one leg it was like wow, there should be something else there,” she said.

“The first few steps that you take its pretty challenging and now it’s like a trust thing, you learn to trust the prosthetic leg.”

Unlike a toddler whose first steps are caught on video, she doesn’t need a record to remember.

“It was pretty amazing. It really was.”

But when she posted a video with the caption “practice makes perfect” it was viewed more than 5,000 times.

Through social media, Biesenthal has also connected with other amputees across North America, including some who showed her that it was possible to ride a motorcycle again. She looks forward to the day when she can get back to the things she loves like gardening and camping. She also wants to someday get back on the road and feel the freedom of the wind in her face.

This Christmas, Biesenthal said she already has everything she could ever ask for.

“There is probably no better gift than just honestly being here.”

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow

by Adriana Christianson

Being alive greatest Christmas gift after motorcycle crash

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