Ex-soldier wants other leg amputated

[unhappycamper]

Ex-soldier wants other leg amputated
By Phillip O’Connor - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted : Sunday Feb 15, 2009 17:22:12 EST

GREENFIELD, Mo. — When Iraq war veteran Derick Hurt lost his right leg in a grenade attack five years ago, he fought with doctors to save his left leg and mangled foot.

Now, he wants to lose that leg, too.

Hurt believes he’s used the pain in his remaining leg as an excuse for not moving on with his life. He avoided finding a full-time job, lacked goals and spent too many days at his rural home, depressed.

“I used it as a crutch not to do things,” he said.

Hurt, 31, met last week with officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to discuss amputating the second leg. If he goes forward with the procedure, Hurt will have gone the longest between injury and amputation of any Iraq or Afghanistan veteran treated at Walter Reed.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_mo_soldier_leg_021509/%2e