Off the couch, onto a bike for disabled veteran
K.C. Compton (right), a disabled veteran, rides bikes with his friend Mike Gilbert, who suffered a stroke several years ago.
“I’m a disabled veteran, and they keep touting preventive medicine at the VA. I thought, well, I need more exercise. But my feet were so bad that I could hardly get around. So I decided I would purchase a recombinant bike that I saw online. It’s supposed to be joint friendly and back friendly. But after getting it, I realized it really wasn’t what I wanted. So I managed to get enough money together to purchase this one, and I let him ride the other one now. They’re not cheap. That one cost abut $1,000 and this one was $3,000. But I just figured, what’s my health worth, you know?
“The final straw was when I realized that I had no muscle tone in my legs and I started losing my equilibrium in this left ear. If I would fall just a little bit that way, there was nothing to catch me. And I was falling a lot. So I decided I needed to change that, to get these legs at least to where they’ll hold me up again. It’s my last gasp at trying to get off the greasy slope of no return.
“With the heat and then the rain, we haven’t had a chance to get out here before now. We’re just getting started. This is our second trip out. And I tell you what, I’m about beat to a nub just making one pass around the park. We plan on taking it slow and working our way back. Even though I’m 73, I don’t see any reason not to try. When God punches my ticket, I’ll go. But until then, I’m not going to quit.”
— K.C. Compton
(Editor’s note: K.C. passed away on Nov. 29, 2018.)
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