IPMBA News

First Amputee NY State Trooper

by Sherry Metzger, MS, The O&P Edge, September 2006

With the added challenges of a missing limb and possible legal battles, some are hesitant to return to the field.  “Sometimes all it takes is a broken arm and that’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” explains amputee police trooper Matt Swartz.  “They just get tired of all the bull we deal with on a daily basis and decide they don’t want to go back.”

But Swartz says he always knew his main goal would be to return to his job.  “It was not a conscious decision, I just wanted to get back to life as I knew it; get back to being me,” he remembers.  “The conscious decision was more about how do I do that.”  Swartz was thrown from his truck when an oncoming vehicle struck his truck in 2004.  He suffered three skull fractures, causing damage to his left temporal lobe, brain swelling, and cranial nerve damage.  In addition, his arm was broken and his left leg was crushed.  Always a fighter, Swartz was told later that he struggled with rescuers at the accident scene.  “My survival instinct and training as a cop made me want to get up, get things done,” he says.  “I even tried to tell the [air rescue] pilot how to fly.”  When he awoke six weeks later from a drug-induced coma, his first memory is of trying to stand--on one leg.  “That’s when I realized they’d had to amputate my leg, when I fell out of my hospital bed,” he says.   “I thought, leg or no leg, how do I get out of here?’“  His wife, who was an uninjured passenger in the crash, placed his wedding band back on his finger and told him she’d worn it over her own while he was in a coma.

He lost his strength those weeks in the hospital, but not his courage.  “The first year was pure determination,” he says.  “The first time I ran outside on my prosthetic leg was July 4, 2005, and it was a symbol of my freedom.”  He gained strength by swimming and running (Swartz can run a nine-minute mile), even as his bosses tried to convince him to stay home and take his disability leave.  Every step of the way he photographed and filmed himself doing various things such as running, climbing a fence, standing in water, and walking backwards.  “I wanted to prove that I am able to do my job, that I am not disabled or handicapped,” he says.  “I thought I’d have to fight for my job.  The toughest part of my [rehabilitation] was not knowing if I’d have a job to return to.”

On October 10, 2005, Swartz returned to work with no restrictions and became the first amputee New York state trooper.  After his therapist and doctor said Swartz was ready to return to work, he completed a two-page checklist, including such tasks as quickly entering and exiting a patrol vehicle and rapidly pursuing a suspect.  The state police doctor then wrote that Swartz was cleared to return to “full and strenuous duty.”

“Since I’ve been back to work, I can honestly say that I’ve done everything from fighting bad guys, to chasing criminals through the woods, to directing traffic in a snowstorm, and my leg is not an issue,” he says.  “I’m very proud to be back to work, but I don’t want to just settle for that.  There are six steps to amputee rehab; the fifth is get back to normal and the sixth is to thrive.  It’s time for me to repay and help others who need it.”

His co-workers, who continued to visit him throughout his recovery period, were thrilled to have him back.  “It was sort of like I was gone but not forgotten,’“ he says.  “They came to check on me.  Their support was worth its weight in gold and it made all the difference for me.”  Police and fire departments rallied around him, holding fundraisers such as pancake breakfasts and bowling tournaments to help offset his medical expenses.  They even came together to help complete construction on his log cabin home.

His amputee prosthetist was another motivating factor in his rehabilitation.  She knew just when to push him, telling him to “quit whining” or when he needed to be told to slow down.  Though his insurance only covered 60 days of therapy and his prosthetic leg at first caused sores on his residual limb, Swartz continued to press his workout to the limit.

Swartz also was encouraged by a quote on the Otto Bock website by President Bush, who said, “Americans would be surprised to learn that a grievous injury such as the loss of a limb no longer means forced discharge.  In other words, the medical care is so good and the recovery process is so technologically advanced that people are no longer forced out of the military.” 

Swartz read that and thought, “If those guys can return to the military, then I can return to police work.  It’s all about the mindset.”

This article was reprinted in the Summer 2015 issue of IPMBA News

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