JUNE 2011

Where Connection Becomes Inspiration

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It seems like an odd choice for a tattoo — the outline of a man engulfed in flames. But once JR Litehiser starts telling you about the past four years of his life, you understand.

“Later, when I went and got the tattoo, I was !-nally at a place where I could have a little fun with what happened,” said JR. “To me being a ‘man on !re’ means being constantly busy in my recovery.”

“Constantly busy” is actually an understatement. JR has a large family and an entrepreneurial-style career that shifts between three roles: insurance agent, construction materials distributor and motivational speaker/aspiring actor. His decision to become an insurance agent was based on his personal experience of being uninsured at the time of his accident.

“Two days before I got hurt, I met with an in-surance agent to discuss getting comprehen-

sive health coverage for myself and my employees,” said JR. “Now that I’m the agent, my sincerest hope is that I can help people better prepare for the curve balls that life sometimes dishes out.”

JR still relies on his experience and connections in the construction in-

dustry to do some work in materials distribution. He has also ventured into

motivational speaking for the United Way and other groups. To make his work

mix just a little more eclectic, JR recently portrayed Captain Hook in an independent !lm.

But his career is not the only thing JR had to reinvent following his accident. Just after he re-turned home from rehabilitation, his wife told him she wanted a divorce. Suddenly, JR was a single parent to his 7-year-old son, Owen. “To deal with that on top of everything else —

well it was a mess,” he said. “It just was not a happy time for me.”

A few months later, while blogging online about his injury and recovery,

JR connected with his high school sweetheart, Gillian. In a twist of fate they had not imagined, the

couple reunited and created a new, blended family: her

son Brendan and daugh-ter Alex, along with

Owen, and a little later, baby Olivia. Add their two

“On May 23, 2008, at about 6 pm, I was !nishing a base-ment "oor with a solvent-based sealer,” he said. “Suddenly there was a "ash, a bang and then it was incredibly hot.”

In that moment, JR was a real life man on !re as he ran outside, yelled for help, fell to the ground and passed out. Eight weeks later he woke up in the Oregon Burn Center at Legacy Emanuel Hospital and realized that his right hand was gone. He had second and third degree burns over 84 percent of his body, from the right side of his face, down his right arm and torso, all the way to his feet. He would en-dure six months of hos-pitalization, surgeries and rehabilitation before seeing his home again.

by Sherri Edge

beloved dogs, and this bustling family of eight is creating a new life together in rural Bend. “I’ve always wanted a large family,” JR said. “So that is what I am most excited about in life — I love it.”

For a year and a half after his accident, JR opted not to wear a prosthetic hand. He had been !tted with a body-powered prosthesis but the harness pressed against his sensitive burn scars. It simply wasn’t worth the discom-fort. #e occupational therapist at the hospi-tal told him about an upcoming presentation that was being given by an upper extremity prosthetist and JR decided to check it out.

“Two weeks later, I was evaluated by my new prosthetist at Advanced Arm Dynamics in Portland,” he said. “#ey quickly got me into an elbow suspended suction socket that was actually comfortable. Before long, I got a myoelectric hand and it’s awesome! I like to freak people out by making it rotate the com-plete 360 degrees.”

It’s this enthusiasm, this sense of fun that has perhaps carried JR the farthest in his recov-ery. No matter how bleak his situation may have seemed, he believes that being able to joke around about it was fundamental to his progress.

“We do not often use the term ‘poster boy’ around here,” said MacJulian Lang of Ad-vanced Arm Dynamics. “But JR is that type of person we can hold up as an example for others. #is is a man who lost pretty much ev-erything along with his arm and at this point, his limiting factor is no longer his amputation or prosthesis.”

JR said that his prosthesis helps him feel much more like he used to before his accident. It also gives him more involvement with his family, from playing on the swings at the park to doing chores together at home.

“#e man on my tattoo still has a right hand. Now I do too,” he says with a smile.

Sherri  Edge   is  a  writer  who  has  spe-­cialized  in  articles  related  to  limb  loss  and  prosthetics  for  15  years.  

Life Redone (font Bill Hicks)

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