Tragedy can strike anyone. Money, fame, and political power are no guarantees of safety. And everyone sometimes needs support.

Edward "Ted" Kennedy, Jr. – an heir to the Kennedy dynasty – lost a leg to bone cancer in 1973 at the age of 12. Now 40, Ted Jr., the son of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, practices health and disability law at Wiggin & Dana, a law firm in Connecticut.

"When I was 12-years-old," Ted Jr. says, "I discovered a lump right below my kneecap. When I told my parents about it they took me to a pediatrician who said it was probably just a calcium deposit and to soak it in Epsom salts for a few weeks and come back."

But Ted Jr. knew something was drastically wrong. Skateboarding one afternoon, he fell and hit his leg on a curb. "The pain lasted for an abnormal period of time, and I told my parents we’d better check this thing out," he says. The examination revealed a tumor, and a biopsy revealed a malignancy. His leg was amputated above the knee the very next day.

"I remember my dad coming into my room and telling me that I was going to lose part of my leg," Ted Jr. recalls. "I was petrified and horrified at the thought. I remember thinking that living life with one leg was worse than not living at all. I really honestly did."

Recalling the power of peer support when he first lost his leg, Kennedy says, "A young boy with an artificial leg came into my hospital room for a visit. I don’t remember what he said. I don’t remember what he looked like. I was so transfixed on his prosthesis as he walked into my room. All he had to do was show me that he could walk into and out of my room. That’s all I needed to give me the personal strength to go on."

Kennedy was the keynote speaker at the 1999 ACA Annual Conference in Reno, Nevada. He shared his experiences and offered a few words of advice to parents of children with disabilities. "Encourage the child to feel comfortable in expressing him or herself. Having an amputation is a traumatic thing. Today, we know there’s a lot of anger, frustration, and depression in many cases, pent up inside. It’s important that parents address the emotional rehabilitation of the child and not gloss over the situation and pretend that nothing is wrong."  

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