Frisco’s Jon Kreamelmeyer, former paralympic coach, comes “full circle” after losing a leg (via nytimes)
FRISCO — In a different world, Jon Kreamelmeyer, 75, would have been in Canada competing in the Masters World Cup of cross-country skiing last week.In January 2021, Kreamelmeyer, an International Paralympic Committee technical classifier who helps determine the competition class for new athletes and a former U.S. Paralympic coach, noticed a dull pain in his right leg. A hot sensation radiated from his calf to his foot. He felt as though the ball of his right foot were filled with marbles.
Doctors took one look at his right foot and put him in a Flight for Life helicopter to Denver. It turned out an aneurysm behind his knee had formed a blood clot, cutting off blood flow in his right leg.Jon Kreamelmeyer, at the Nordic Center in Frisco, Colo. where he was learning to ski again, on March 5, 2022. Kreamelmeyer, whose right leg was amputated in 2021, prefers to see it as a transformation rather than a disability.
He came down with pneumonia and spent nearly two months in the hospital. In late November, he finally returned home. These days, you’ll find him abandoning his crutches to hop around his living room or to shovel or snow blow his driveway. He has also returned to the Nordic trails on a sit ski.
It’s the day-to-day activities that still trip up Kreamelmeyer’s friend and fellow amputee Willie Stewart, who lost his left arm in a construction accident when he was 18 but who went on, under Kreamelmeyer’s coaching, to win a Paralympic medal. Stewart has completed Ironman triathlons and the grueling Leadman race, which consists of 280 miles of trail running and biking above 10,000 feet.“The most disabled I ever feel is trying to button my shirt,” Stewart said.
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