STEVENS POINT (WAOW) -
Golfers hit the links for charity in
Stevens Point. One group of players shares a special bond.
They may slice the ball and miss putts
just like everyone else. But the difference with these men is that they're
playing with only one real leg.
"Some people notice that I limp. They
say, ‘you hurt your leg?' A little bit," Kevin McNichols joked.
While they all enjoy playing golf,
these three men were brought together because each of them is an amputee.
"I lost my leg in a hunting accident,"
George Sairs said.
"Congenital deficiency, lost my leg
when I was three," Scott Richards said.
"I lost my leg in a motorcycle
accident 15 years ago," McNichols said.
That has not slowed them down. They're
playing in a series of charity golf tournaments. This one in Stevens Point
benefits the Circle of Friends foundation, which helps children with cancer.
They call themselves the four-legged
foursome, but that fourth leg is missing. He's trying to qualify for the
paraplegic Olympics.
But they're all showing life doesn't
end after amputation.
"Give awareness to other amputees that
there are things we can all do," McNichols said.
"I can do anything anybody else can do
and that's what we're trying to prove today. We're just like anybody else,"
Richards said.
They say they're grateful for the
advancements in technologies over the years. George Sairs' first prosthetic leg
was actually made of wood.
"You do what you have to do if you
want to live a semi-normal life and forget those things and see what you can
do," Sairs said.
The four-legged foursome say life is
all about rolling with the punches—or in this case, rolling with the golf
balls.
All four members of the group plan to
play in the 32nd annual Wisconsin Amputee Golf tournament later this
summer near Madison.
