On August 12, 2012, at the intersection of Hill Street and Fairview Avenue in Montgomery, Alabama, Gini Thomas’ entire world changed forever.
A driver ran through a stop sign and collided with the motorcycle that Gini and her husband of 17 months, musician Joe Thomas Jr., were riding.
The accident took not only her leg, but also her husband’s life.
Gini went on to lose her partner and endure 20 surgeries on her leg before her final amputation, but she eventually came to appreciate the life she had now and become an advocate for people with other disabilities. I have built my position.
“I am very blessed,” said Gini, 37. I have a wonderful family who are willing to give up anything to help me recover.
“My mother wouldn’t leave my side after my surgery, so I even lost my job. They made sure I didn’t lose my health insurance.
“My friends called, texted, sent me food, took me out of the house, made sure I didn’t get too depressed. It dried, I’m very lucky.
“It is really hard not to feel grateful.
“I have met so many wonderful doctors, nurses, therapists, prosthetists, patients/other amputees who have enriched my life. I am very happy to be still here.
“This may seem strange, but I think losing my leg has given me more confidence. People are always staring. .
“I’ve taken the opportunity to prove that losing a limb isn’t necessarily the end of the world. I’ve worked hard to regain my mobility, so I want to show off my abilities.”
Gini learned to walk again and ended up working as a sales representative for a company that actually fitted her first prosthetic leg.
Realizing the general poor accessibility of wheelchairs after her accident, she advocated for wheelchair users and shared her personal osseointegration journey on TikTok to help others and raise awareness. .
Gini also moved home to care for her mother, who has dementia, and her younger brother, who has Down syndrome, but was grieving the loss of her loved ones.
“I was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama,” she said. “I have two brothers of hers, one older and one younger. My younger brother has Down syndrome.
“I met my husband in 2007. He was a musician and happened to be playing on stage at a bar I went to with friends. He proposed in 2010 and got married on March 12, 2011 in Las Vegas.
“I was a medical assistant at a pain management clinic when the shipwreck happened. Ironically, I am now a patient at the same clinic.
“On August 12, 2012, at the intersection of Hill Street and Fairview Avenue in Montgomery, a young man driving a Mercury Grand Marquis passed a stop sign and collided with the motorcycle my husband and I were riding. .
“I lost consciousness when I was hit, and I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but when I woke up, there was a man sitting in the middle of the street, wiping the blood off his face with a towel.
“He lived near the intersection where the accident happened and sat on the balcony watching everything. He was very kind and gentle and did his best to calm me down.
“When the ambulance arrived, it took five people to put him on a stretcher, not because he was too heavy, but because his legs were badly broken all over the place.
“I really wish I knew everything you did to save my life. I don’t know how I survived when my husband Joe died.
“My helmet came off and he was still wearing it. , has restored me physically and mentally.
“I broke every bone in my right leg in multiple places and had several open fractures. Since then I have had 20 operations on my right leg. I had a traumatic injury, and the first hospital that treated me didn’t give me a blood transfusion.
“By the time I got to the second hospital the next day, all the numbers were so low I would have died if I hadn’t been put on a ventilator.
“I got a blood transfusion right away, but I stayed on a ventilator for a week after the shipwreck.”
After going through all these surgeries, doctors told her she might be able to use her leg again in the future, but the pain was too great, so Gini chose amputation.
“When I first spoke with my surgeon, he explained that amputation was always an option, but I thought there was about a 60% chance that my limb would work again.
“It requires a lot of surgery. He said he would do whatever I wanted and if I decided to amputate at any time, he would honor my wishes.”
“After three years and 11 salvage surgeries, I was in constant pain, taking painkillers, muscle relaxants, antibiotics, antidepressants, etc. all day every day. I was miserable. I decided it would be more functional without the limbs.
“In the summer of 2015, I decided to have an amputation. I was asked to speak to a doctor in
“I had an amputation above the knee on August 18, 2015. After I got my first prosthesis in 2016, it took me about three to four months to walk without crutches or a cane.”
Her road to recovery was long and tragically interrupted by her mother’s failing health.
Gini realized she had to opt for osseointegration. Osseointegration is the surgical placement of her implants into her joints so that she can walk again. Otherwise, she would not be able to help her father with the manual labor.
she said:
“I was laid off from the job when I started having problems with my femur and couldn’t use a conventional socket prosthesis,” she said.
“We eventually returned to Montgomery in October 2020. My mother was diagnosed with dementia and was declining rapidly. My father was struggling to care for her, my brother and myself. .
“I was on crutches and couldn’t do much physically, but I came back to help in any way I could.
“Because I didn’t walk for three years before I had osseointegration, all the muscles around my hip joint were significantly atrophied.
“Osseointegration received FDA approval in the US in 2020. I was lucky enough to find a surgeon in Atlanta, Georgia (about 2.5 hours away from Montgomery) who could do the implant. I was.
“Osseointegration was completed on January 27, 2022 at Emory Hospital, Atlanta, GA, and I started wearing the full prosthesis at the end of April. , is getting stronger day by day.
“By the end of this year, I expect to be able to walk without aids.
“Once I am fully functional, I would love to get back to work in the medical/prosthetics field so I can support others on a similar journey.”
Gini has also become an advocate for people with disabilities and has done some modeling shoots.
“I’m lucky that I haven’t experienced any major discrimination. I think there are still many facilities that are difficult to access with wheelchairs,” he said.
“I had to use a wheelchair for weeks or months after several surgeries. There were a lot of
“I had TikTok censor or remove some of my videos because they said showing my osseointegrated implants was too graphic. I am simply trying to educate and answer common questions about osseointegration.
“I’ve never seriously considered modeling before, but when the right people reach out and have an empowering message to share with my image, I can’t turn it down. .
“I did a photo shoot for the Commit to the Song documentary with Josh Carples and most recently Grail Bra Specialist underwear shoot with Heather Larkin. I’m still not sure if I can call myself a model.” not.
And to those who may be going through something similar, Gini said: Bad things happen to people every day, but most of the time it’s out of our control. The only thing we can control is how we respond to each situation.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t be sad or scared or angry. Those feelings are valid. Respect those feelings, but don’t let them take over.”
“On your worst days, make a list of the bad and the good things in your life. The good always far outweighs the bad.
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