Area Amputee Establishing Support Group for Others in Similar Situations

(NIKKI GRACE IS SPEAKING WITH NOON ROTARIANS ON HER EXPERIENCES AS AN AMPUTEE. NOON CLUB PRESIDENT AND PROGRAM CHAIRMAN KAYE DENT IS LOOKING ON)

When Nikki Grace told members of the Effingham Noon Rotary Club Wednesday that she was a part of the CIA, most members thought of something other than Central Illinois Amputees.

They weren't disappointed, though.

Grace is a person who has spent time in San Francisco and Maui, but now lives in Cumberland County. She met and married a guy from Cumberland County who convinced her to move here. 

Her presentation, though, dealt with a crash after moving to Cumberland County that resulted from an attempt to miss hitting a deer on a roadway. Eventually, she deal with sepsis and had to have her right leg amputated. 

The crash came in the months following her giving birth to twins and the amputation came while the twins were young. How she, and her family, dealt with those circumtances formed the basis of her presentation to Rotarians.

Grace, whose married name is Strader, was asked by those who cared for her to present information on her case to others dealing with amputations since there really wasn't an organization in this part of the state that supported amputees.

(THE PROSTHETIC LEG THAT GRACE'S SONS NAMED "IRONMAN")

Grace showed her prosthetic leg and said she asked her sons whether it should be named "storm trooper" or "Ironman"? Ironman was the choice of Grace's sons' class of 3rd graders, and the process helped make her boys feel comfortable with the leg and with their mom's situation. She said she's used to removing the leg and putting it back on "10 times" when she's being showed off by her sons.

The plan, Grace says, is to establish a support group in Champaign and once it's established to form another group farther south.

Rotary Noon Club President Kaye Dent served as weekly program chairman.