Wednesday was Tech. Sgt. Mike Gambill's last day of physical therapy at Health South. It's only been six months since he lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident, but it's been a long, painful journey. The details of the accident and what he told his wife that night are still fresh in his memory. "I was able to say I love you and goodbye. I didn't know if I was getting ready to die. I said the third thing, get ahold of somebody at the base, because they're going to take care of you and I need to know that you're taken care of. And just as she turned, I blacked out."
When Gambill came to a week later, his wife told him he'd lost his leg above the knee; a tough thing to swallow for this career Airforce firefighter. "I said Lord, what do you want me to do? And I had to throw my pity over off to the side, I went on with my life." Gambill and his wife say the Airforce was a big part of helping them go on. "His First Sergeant flew out. His commander called me when they heard of the accident," said Gambill's wife Michele. Gambill's parents, wife and three daughters were in Bakersfield, so he decided to stay here for his recovery instead of going to a military hospital. Gambill says nothing can compare to the support his family has shown. "If I could take one of my legs and give it to him, I'd do it in a heartbeat," said dad, Jerry Gambill.
Since his injury, therapists say Gambill has pushed past one goal to another. Nine weeks ago he got a new leg. "Some of our patients who fall, they stop pushing after that. They stop progressing, he didn't ever stop progressing," said Gambill's senior physical therapist Dawn Thompson. "It's phenomenal, just to see him walk like he just did there is just, just brings tears to our eyes," said Gambill's father.
Gambill has served in the Airforce for 18 years, and wants to make it 20. But a military medical review board must decide if he can still preform his duties. Gambill may not know until February or March of next year what the board decides. But whatever the decision is, this firefighter says he'll never stop fighting. "God gave me a second chance, this was my time to be able to turn around and go on."
