Ronnie pushes forward after losing his leg
“It’s been rough, but I can’t give up. I won’t give up. I just keep moving forward.”
For all his adult life, Ronnie Hall worked 12 to 14 hours a day in apartment and HVAC maintenance to take care of his family.
Today, now age 57, he doesn’t work at all. His three adult children are helping take care of him.
Because in 2010, Ronnie Hall had a heart attack.
“They took veins out of my legs and put them in my heart,” he said. “That worked for about a year.”
Then, he began having severe pain in his left leg. Doctors inserted a cadaver vein, but the solution was short-lived. The pain came back. Then, doctors found two blood clots they were afraid would go to Ronnie’s heart.
Dr. Ramesh Narayanagowda had no choice but to amputate Ronnie’s left leg.
After a two-week hospital stay and rehabilitative therapy, there was yet another problem. Ronnie found himself back in surgery with doctors removing another four inches from the same leg.
“I didn’t think I would ever walk again, but guess what?” Ronnie says, “I’ve decided I have to do this. I can’t give up. I’ve never been a person who gives up. My kids and grandkids mean too much to me.”
But there are lots of challenges ahead.
Today, Ronnie Hall shares an apartment with his son Josh. He visits his daughter April several days a week. His son Ronnie built a ramp to his front door.
“My kids are great,” Ronnie says. “It’s been rough. It’s still rough. I’m figuring out how to live by myself, and I’m not there yet.”
He gets up every morning, takes a shower, gets dressed and makes breakfast. It takes a while. He tries to get outside everyday and move around. He drove to Knoxville one weekend to visit friends, but it’s hard to navigate by himself with a wheelchair or crutches.
Mission Point Health Partners, part of Saint Thomas Health, helped Ronnie, making arrangements for a wheelchair and easier-to-use elbow crutches, visiting him several times at home to help him connect the dots and regain as much of his mobility and life as possible.
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