NCO loses leg, doesn’t miss a step

  • Published
  • By Laura Pellegrino
  • 49th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) --  He wishes he could be out on the flightline supporting the maintainers who work on F-117A Nighthawks, like he did before he lost his leg.

With his right leg amputated below the knee and using a prosthetic, his stump is still not strong enough to allow him much time there.

“I’m proud of my accomplishments so far, even though I’m not completely healed yet,” said Senior Master Sgt. Robert Bates, 49th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron assistant superintendent here. “Throughout the day, I still have to take everything apart to give my stump a breather.”

Sergeant Bates first started feeling pain in his right leg in October 2003. He said he thought it was a reoccurrence of a condition he was diagnosed with in March 2003, sciatica, in which muscle spasms squeeze the leg’s nerves and cause pain.

After a week of therapeutic exercises, he said the pain became excruciating. He was sent to a local hospital where his doctor determined blood clots had formed. Poor blood flow was causing his right foot to die.

The doctor tried to save his leg by using arteries from his left leg and performing an operation to force blood through, Sergeant Bates said. Three days after the operation, blood flow still had not been restored.

Amputation was the only option, but he said he was not afraid of losing his leg.

“It was an easy decision for me because my health was at stake,” Sergeant Bates said. “I told the surgeon, ‘Just take the foot.’”

However, he was afraid of how the operation would change his home life.

“I had given my son his first driving lesson a few days before I went in the hospital, and I worried how (I would) be able to help him and my family through times like that,” Sergeant Bates said. “I already had my dreams and plans set for the future.”

Thanks to his prosthetic leg and physical therapy, Sergeant Bates has been able to do many of the things he has always loved.

“One of my hobbies is just driving around and traveling” he said. “I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to drive a stick shift. It was scary at first, but I got it down.”

He has accomplished many things since his surgery but the road to recovery was not easy.

His leg became infected a few weeks after the operation. His second operation, to remove the infected material, was in November.

“First the doctor had to open the wound, go inside and clean everything out,” Sergeant Bates said. “They couldn’t close it right away, so for four days I had an open wound. It was more painful than loosing the leg. Once the doctor noticed everything was healing, he shortened the bone two inches and closed the wound.”

After that, Sergeant Bates started to heal fast. He was released from the hospital the next day, and his wife, who is a certified nursing assistant, cared for him.

“[My wife] Michele [was] always there for me; she helped me stand when I slipped after my first day walking around with my crutches and made sure I took my medication,” Sergeant Bates said. “My daughter was also a great help. She helped at home and did most of the driving for us, all the while working and attending college full time.”

Though Sergeant Bates said he originally worried he would not return to work, three weeks after his second surgery, he was back in his office. He worked an hour a day, and gradually increased the length of his shifts.

“Rob is well known and respected not only in his squadron, but throughout the entire maintenance group,” said Lt. Col. Mark Rumph, 49th Maintenance Group deputy commander. “Everyone was concerned and wanted to help in any way they could. Once he made it through the operations, the focus was on doing what we had to do to allow him to return to duty. The next thing we knew, Rob was back at work and has been going full throttle ever since.”

Although he has returned to work and is doing very well, there are some challenges he still faces. He has not been able to travel with the air show team and has only recently been able to work a full day, but he is always improving.

Doctors have told him he should be fully recovered in four or five months, and he is considering retirement in November.

“Strength, a good personality, being very open-minded and [having] a strong religious background,” have helped Sergeant Bates through his recovery, he said. Most of all, he said his friends and family have supported him.

He said he did not have time to feel sad.

Colonel Rumph said it was more than that.

“It would have been easy for him to feel sorry for himself, but he wouldn’t allow that to happen, and his attitude actually kept up the morale of his friends and family,” Colonel Rumph said. “In the end, it wasn’t so much what we did to help him, but rather what he did to help us all. His determination, strength, family values and attitude are a shining example for us all to follow.”