Stumpy's Blog

This blog is about my return to Walter Reed to get a new leg. I am an above-the-knee amputee. I lost my leg in April 2007 in Iraq while riding in a Humvee that was struck by an "explosively formed projectile" -- a molten metal jet stream released from a homemade roadside bomb. My left knee was shattered and later amputated at Walter Reed. I rushed through rehab to get back to Alaska quickly. But my leg continued to change, and now my prosthetic doesn't fit, and I need to begin again. I'll keep you posted on my progress and experience. This time, it will work.


Joshua Ferguson

I joined the Army in 1996 and my position is as a forward observer. My dad was in the Air Force and I'm the oldest of four with one brother and two sisters. My wife is Danielle, and we have three young children, J.J., 5 in June, Corinne, 3 in July, and little Madeline, 1 this month. My goal is to complete a full 20 years in the military, and then retire to become a teacher at the elementary or high school levels.

FEATURE STORY

New life & limbs

Read reporter George Bryson's account of how Ferguson ended up on his way back to Walter Reed.

Iron Dog - 11/11/2009 6:45 pm

Running and Snow - 11/9/2009 3:40 pm

Waszack - 10/29/2009 7:38 pm

Waiting for the rut! - 10/29/2009 6:20 pm

OK hunt was Awesome! - 10/20/2009 11:51 pm

Football - 10/5/2009 5:50 pm

Golf & Football - 10/1/2009 5:11 pm

Crossroads - 9/23/2009 11:47 am

Where were you? - 9/11/2009 7:34 pm

Facebook is crazy - 9/10/2009 1:39 pm

Two more - 9/9/2009 11:27 am

Hell of a year - 9/6/2009 7:24 am

New 4/25 guys at Walter Reed - 6/28/2009 4:23 pm

Tournament on Friday - 5/6/2009 2:25 pm

Still slacking - 4/29/2009 4:39 pm

Slacking - 4/7/2009 12:28 am

Less than a week - 3/24/2009 4:49 am

Still unclear - 3/23/2009 11:43 pm

More surgery? - 3/12/2009 7:06 pm

Gone again - 3/9/2009 4:41 pm

Good Morning! - 3/3/2009 3:37 am

I hate sleep! - 2/20/2009 12:08 am

I hate sleep!

Comments (0) |

JJ's Zamboni rideJJ's Zamboni ride
Hello people,
Hope your evening is a bit more restfull than mine. I'm downstairs trying to re-create document on the laptop that crashed. JJ just woke up, because he was alone in bed, so he's knocked out on the couch.

Same old same old on this end. Friday morning already, this weekend flew by. JJ and I have tickets to another Capitals game. Should be a pretty decent game, we've got the Avalanche in town. We're loving the hockey games, but I cannot lie, I'm drooling for the prospect of Baseball. These are two things that I must say, I love about the lower-48.

Hope you all had a great President's Day weekend. We didn't get to do to the rink for any puck and skate, JJ opted for playing outside. Sunday we went to a 1500 table gunshow. I was looking for some reloading components, hoping to score some deals. No dice, very little in the way of ammo as well. Most of the dealers I spoke with had sold out of 5.56 within a half an hour of opening on Saturday. We had a good time just putzing around though. A quick stop at Wal-Mart, don't tell Danny but I had to buy cleaning supplies! Sunday we had planned to head out to ride the quads. I had just tuned up JJ's, had it on the trickle charger, and had it running likle a top. Wouldn't you know it as soon as we made it out to ride his Kawasaki wouldn't start. She wasn't getting any fuel, so we went tandem on my Can-Am. I would just like to say that mud is fun!!!!

The leg has improved considerably. I think that the main issue with the socket was due to the fact that it was reduced one or two layers too many. I have continued to shrink, at this point on some days I am in three ply by the end of the day. It's still a bit tender, but more than likely, that is just due to the fact that I continued to wear the leg.

I missed the promotion of a good friend and warrior last weekend. MAJ (now LTC) Marc Hoffmeister was pinned on Baldy. Friends and family made the climb to see him pinned. I found out from another friend, Kirk Alkire of Eagle River, that the flag used in the promotion ceremony was the flag I had carried with me on many missions during our deployment to Afghanistan. I had given the flag to Kirk when he and his buddies rolled through Walter Reed on their ride across the country, honoring fallen soldiers (www.rollinghonor.com). There was also a pretty cool article in the Alaska Star about the ceremony, as well as the upcoming climb of Denali, set up by Marc. You can find the story at http://www.alaskastar.com/stories/021909/New_img_1001.shtml Maqrc and Gayle also recently finishe the Susitna 100. Those two deffinetly deserve eachother, two equally crazy individuals!

That's about it for now, I hope during my rambling, that I didn't lose you. Hope everyone is well. Talk to you later-Josh


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