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Charles M. Arena
843-729-4636
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Below Knee amputee since July 2, 1997.
I retired from NYC Transit in June 1990. We moved from Brooklyn, NY to the Catskill Mountains on that date. Everything was fine until that terrible day in 1997. I had stubbed my little toe on my left foot. A couple of weeks later I went to the foot doctor because of the pain. He looked at it and said to follow him to the hospital.
I was introduced to a vascular surgeon and he explained to me that the toe was gangrene. He had to do a bypass on my leg because there wasn't any circulation. He was going to cut me from the groin down to my ankle to find a vessel that he could tie into. Well after two surgeries which brought no success lead us to 7/2/1997 and my leg was removed below the knee.
I was devastated and was to a point of denial. My wife and kids supported me and if it wasn't for them I don't know what I would have done. I was a volunteer fireman upstate NY since 1986. I was going to quit but the chief and my brother firefighters would not let me quit and they found a radio job for when we have a fire call.
We moved here to SC in 1999 and I am still a volunteer firefighter here in SC since 1999. One of my accomplishments is I finished a 308 square foot room. I did sheet rock, electric, insulation and a hardwood floor with my wife by my side. I try not to let anything stop me. The difference is that it takes me longer then it did when I had two legs. Today, I am still with the Fire Company in SC and in NY. I am an active Honorary Firefighter certified both in NY and SC.
Charles M. Arena
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