Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 31, 1993                   TAG: 9308310086
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY                                LENGTH: Medium

SELF-AMPUTEE TAKES 1ST CRUTCH-FREE STEP SINCE DAY OF HORROR

Wyman recalled that he used to be on the run from sunup to sundown, either driving a bulldozer at the strip-mining company where he works or building his family a house.

But that all changed July 20 when he went into the woods northeast of Pittsburgh to cut timber for the house. As he was collecting logs, an oak tree fell on his leg and smashed two bones.

Trapped and thinking he would bleed to death, the 37-year-old outdoorsman made a tourniquet from a chain saw cord and used a pocketknife to sever his leg below the knee.

On Monday, dressed in casual shorts, Wyman took his first steps on his artificial leg.

"The walking part is kind of like being a child right now," he said. "I've done only just a few steps here and there before. I had become too dependent on the crutches."

John Sabolich, president of Sabolich Prosthetics and Research Center, helped Wyman fit into the $15,000 artificial limb, which was donated by the center.

Sabolich walked with him across the floor of one of the center's labs. On the second try, Wyman was eager to go it alone, with only silent support from his wife, Janet, and son, Brian.

"Take one step at a time," Sabolich told Wyman as he positioned the heel of the prosthesis on a stair. "Let's not overdo it."

Sabolich said Wyman's attitude has helped him adjust more quickly than other patients. Wyman should be completely adapted to his limb in three to four months, he said. "A lot of times, acceptance is the answer," he said.

Wyman credits his family and a belief in God with helping him through the ordeal. "My family is my inner strength," he said.

Janet Wyman said it has been difficult to cope with the emotional aspects of her husband's loss of a limb as well as with the financial toll on their one-income family. She recently was laid off from a textile mill.

But she said having her husband around was blessing enough.

"I was just so grateful to God he had the strength to do what he had to do to get out of there and save his life," she said, tears welling in her eyes.

"I'd rather have him here than worry about him having part of his leg missing. If we had lost him, I don't think I could go on."