Soldier loses two legs, but finds a calling

He's working hard to make Edmonton centre of excellence in aiding amputees

Katherine Harding, Globe & Mail, 11 Oct 06

EDMONTON -- When you ask Master Corporal Paul Franklin what keeps him going, the wounded Edmonton soldier is blunt: Diet Coke and sheer stubbornness.

Master Cpl. Franklin lost both legs in an attack in Afghanistan last January. And while many wounded Canadian soldiers have opted to recover in private since returning from the dusty battlefields, the 39-year-old military medic has been quite vocal about his own difficult medical journey.

And now, even with his recovery far from over, Master Cpl. Franklin is embarking on an entirely different struggle: a plan to make Edmonton a "centre of excellence" when it comes to helping amputees across the northern Prairies and territories cope with and recover from the loss of limbs.

"When I was in the hospital, I thought there would be more information available for someone in my condition -- a double above-the-knee amputee," he said. "But it wasn't freely available. I thought that wasn't quite good enough."

The married father of a seven-year-old boy, Simon, soon approached his doctor at Edmonton's Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, and an idea to hand out information pamphlets to amputees soon snowballed into the Northern Alberta Amputee Program, a non-profit group that will be affiliated with the University of Alberta. The program will seek to improve amputee care, even after patients leave the hospital, by offering information, education and peer counselling.

The charity will also raise funds to help pay for research into new technologies involving amputee care.

"Sometimes, people don't get the same care that a military patient gets," Master Cpl. Franklin said. "We need to get everyone to that same level."

The Halifax native, who returned to work two weeks ago at the Edmonton military base, said one of the hardest aspects of his recovery has been dealing with the lingering psychological effects.

"It's coming to grips over who I am as a person. It's what I've lost," he said.

Master Cpl. Franklin, was driving a Mercedes patrol jeep, known as a G-Wagon, near Kandahar on Jan. 15, when a bomber in a taxi smashed into the light-armoured jeep. The crash detonated seven rockets, which sent the jeep six metres into the air.

The explosion killed Glyn Berry, a senior Canadian diplomat, and seriously injured Master Cpl. Franklin and two other Edmonton soldiers: Private William Edward Salikin and Corporal Jeffrey Bailey. Three Afghans also died in the attack.

Master Cpl. Franklin was thrown from the jeep and hit a brick wall; his hair and face were on fire. When he looked down, part of his left leg was about two metres from his body. The femur was exposed and blood was pouring out.

He later made the difficult decision to have the lower half of his right leg, which was badly damaged, amputated in a German military hospital.

Since the explosion, he has undergone dozens of operations and months of physiotherapy. He spent three months at Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital learning how to use his new prosthetic limbs known as C-Legs.

With the aid of two crutches, he can now walk one kilometre. However, when he uses only one cane, that distance is cut down to 20 metres. His dream is to be able to run with his prosthetic limbs. "But I know that's a ways off," Master Cpl. Franklin said.

Master Cpl. Franklin's doctor, Jackie Hebert, who helped him start the non-profit group, said she often marvels at his recovery and his determination to help other amputees.

"Paul has been absolutely amazing in wanting to give back to people," said Dr. Hebert, who heads up Glenrose's amputee program and is affiliated with the University of Alberta. "He has found a way to channel his energies and go above and beyond what a person would normally do with their recovery.

"He also has the skill set and personality to make something like this work."

She said her department and staff "are stretched to the limit" and Master Cpl. Franklin's help will be invaluable.

Master Cpl. Franklin attributes his determination to help other amputees to his background as a medic, but also to the fact that "I'm stubborn, stubborn, stubborn."

He said "lots of Diet Coke" help get him through his long days, which now include teaching tactical combat medicine at the Edmonton base. It's a basic course on surviving injury in battle.

He also pays close attention to the news from Afghanistan, carefully studying what happened during every Canadian death or injury.

He wants to pinpoint ways to improve how wounded soldiers are treated so "that no more will come back dead."

Forty Canadian soldiers have been killed since 2002.

Master Cpl. Franklin has chosen to be in the spotlight since arriving back from Afghanistan in February because he wants to shatter the myth that wounded soldiers "are lost in the system and shuttled to the side" when they return broken.

"People always hear about the disgruntled soldier -- never about the happy soldier," he said. "I want to change that."