Amputee walks to earn degree, inspire others

NASHUA, N.H. – For Steve Loignon, graduating from Daniel Webster College is a great accomplishment. Standing up to receive his diploma is an even greater one.

Loignon, of Eliot, Maine, lost his lower legs in a car crash two years ago, but has gone back to work, continued taking college courses and started a Web site to help others with disabilities.

He received a degree in organizational management.

Loignon, 39, is a design assistant at Pratt and Whitney in North Berwick, Maine. Just last week, he walked through the cafeteria at work for the first time since the accident. He hopes the degree will gain him a promotion.

Since March, he has been wearing computerized legs called C-Legs, which are manufactured by a German company named Ottobock. The legs allow him to climb stairs as well as sit and stand more naturally.

“The C-Leg is very incredible. It’s changing lives,” he said. “They have processors in both knees that sense motion, weight change, weight shift (and) speed change. They look a lot better than the other ones.”

Loignon also works out three times a week at 5:30 a.m. at the YMCA to regain his strength.

“I lost all my body muscle being unconscious for five weeks,” he said. “It’s been a long road getting my strength back.”

Loignon said Pratt & Whitney has been very supportive. The company added a support bar to his cubicle to help him stand, put in extra powered doors, made a couple of the bathrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and gave him a reserved parking spot.

He said once he was able to recover, he wanted to help others. Loignon said friends created the Web site used to update people on his condition while he was in the hospital. He decided to transform it into a center where people with disabilities can read about others in the same situation.

“There aren’t many success stories out there for the disabled,” he said. “If I can help another person walk that doesn’t have the resources, then it will be pretty gratifying.”

Loignon said he has gotten many responses to his site from places as far away as Vietnam. He said he has been corresponding with a man from Vietnam to tell him how to find a prosthetic limb.

He would also like to set up a nonprofit endowment and give out scholarships to people with physical disabilities. He said he is also lobbying for a bill in the Maine Legislature to increase insurance coverage for prosthetic limbs.

Loignon has other pursuits, as well. He owns a small brewery that he operates on Saturdays. He is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox. And he likes gardening, camping and spending time with his family and friends.

He is getting stronger with his walking and has been driving for more than a year. He brings his wheelchair, which he sets up himself.

“I kind of surprise myself in very short periods of time on what I can do and what I can’t do, and there isn’t much I can’t do,” he said.

“My goal is to get as far away from my wheelchair as I can, although I realize my wheelchair will still be a small part of my life.”