inMotion Magazine

Finding Answers 29 confiding that he is spending months on end in pain, all day, every day. He’s less jovial as he confesses that the pain is a small price to pay to relieve the burden on his wife. Two years is a long time, he says, to put the burden of life’s labors on your spouse. His stare grows a bit distant. As the muscles in his jaw flex slightly, he quietly declares, “Rebecca deserves a break. The heavy lifting I have to do to walk again is basically nothing.” If his sense of duty, honor and loyalty are good enough for strangers, he’ll surely show them to his wife. Even his recovery is about others. Even unable to walk, he stands for all of the best ideals one can hope for. When asked what advice he could offer a new amputee, Oldroyd has a couple of answers. Already a living example of the principle that holds a Scout is brave, he puts the same stock in another – that a Scout is cheerful: “There are only two ways to survive amputations. The first is, laugh. Find any excuse you can to laugh. Laugh at anything. Laugh at everything. Laugh at nothing at all. Don’t apologize, just laugh. “I joined amputee groups online, and they are terrific company: a bunch of dismembered people who know every amputee joke there is, and love them. They showed me how to accept this ‘radical weight loss program’ and laugh right in the face of all the pain and sorrow of it. “Laugh about all of it, because if you don’t, you give too much power to the horror. There’s more than enough of that. No one experiences this without pondering the horror of it. But once you get in the habit of laughing, and it will come easily in no time, take … the laughter to other amputees: Be that person that the new amputee really needs to meet – that’s the second tip for survival. There are people in every community … who believe a key part of their reason for existing is to show every new amputee the best-kept secrets of limb loss: It’s actually going to make you a better person, and make life an even more dashing and bolder adventure, if you’ll only let it.” In describing Oldroyd’s character, one of his Eagle Scouts, his younger brother Sean, says, “This guy paid his way through school working as a bar bouncer and spent his free weekends, in between campouts, debating the smartest kids in the world, and actually winning. There’s no use fighting him, and there’s no use arguing with him. If he says he’s going to walk, it’s because he thought it through and made a choice. Play it smart and get out of his way.” Clearly, Oldroyd has never let his dysfunctional body break his iron will to not just survive, but to be of meaningful service to his fellow man – to use his charismatic gifts to persuade them of life’s possibilities, even in the face of its defeats. And he’s not just talking about service: Just before publication, he went back to Facebook and announced his plans to start a Venturing Crew for teenaged amputees, giving them a Scoutmaster that understands them and what they’re feeling after limb loss. And he’s offering to help anyone, anywhere, start one in their city. In time, there will be Scouting for amputees dotting the map. For more information on Venturing Crew, follow: facebook.com/georgeoldroyd