One foot in the grave, one on a motorcycle

Placed in an impossible position, Erez Avramov had to decide if amputating his leg would give him his life back.

By MOSHE ARENSTEIN
Erez Avramov recovers in the hospital after a car accident nearly took his life. (photo credit: Courtesy)
Erez Avramov recovers in the hospital after a car accident nearly took his life.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Erez Avramov was in a tough position – his motorcycle had overturned, pinning him under it.
The Israeli-Canadian had two options: He could try to push the bike with his left leg, but there wasn’t enough room to maneuver; or he could reach down on his right side, release the air valve socket on his prosthesis and remove his artificial leg.
“Yes, it worked!” he wrote on his blog.
“I was able to leave my stuck prosthesis under the bike and wiggle my way around. Then I could hop on one leg, move the bike, get my stuck leg unstuck, put it on, lift the bike and off I went! Sometimes, it’s good to have detachable body parts. ” The Jerusalem-born Avramov is no quitter, and what keeps him going are the opportunities to push his body to the limit. While in the army he served in Shaldag, an elite Israel Air Force Commando unit. Avramov moved to Canada from Israel for his love of outdoor and extreme sports – skiing, hiking and dirt-biking – and he hasn’t slowed down since his leg was amputated three years ago.
The accident that almost took his life happened on a snowy November day, outside Vancouver in 2010. Avramov was driving when he hit a patch of black ice and lost control of his car. He spun and hit the median, and ended up colliding head-on with a truck; when paramedics arrived, they were surprised to find him alive. He spent the next three days in a medically induced coma.
When he woke up, he discovered the femur in his right leg was in 17 pieces and his right ankle was shattered. Three doctors wanted to amputate his right leg from above the knee, but one doctor disagreed, believing Avramov could come back from the injury.
“The first six months were pure survival and healing of multiple injuries,” he says, speaking to the Magazine by phone from his home in Vancouver.
“Most of the leg was all right; the injuries healed fast. But the ankle was the problem. I suffered pain that I don’t wish on anyone, and it was 24/7.”
Recovery on his right side was not progressing.
Avramov remembers how he couldn’t walk for more than 20 minutes at a time. He would limp and the overcompensation on his left side, the good one, caused pain to his hip and knee. It was a long process of rehabilitation, in which he underwent some six surgeries.
“I’ve been to some dark places, very dark,” he recalls. “Depression, suicidal thoughts almost.”
It took him a whole year to realize his right ankle was a lost cause. The talus bone had basically died due to lack of blood supply; there was no procedure that would fix it. “It was just a matter of time until the whole ankle collapsed,” he says.
He was in agony. “I wanted to ski with my two daughters, but that would probably never happen. I couldn’t live like that “That started a personal journey of healing, self-growth and spirituality.”
Avramov’s girlfriend, now his wife, was a big supporter. “Without her help, I don’t know that I would be here talking to you today.”
THE THOUGHT of amputation began to weigh heavily on Avramov. “Every time I got an opinion from a doctor, it was something else. They were divided; some said I was insane.”
“I studied it like a PhD,” he recounts about his investigation into the matter.
“I asked specialists and amputees what would life be like with a prosthesis, how much time will I need to recover, will it really improve my life?” He was also inspired by his personal trainer, an amputee who became an Ironman triathlete.
“I felt that electively deciding to amputate my right leg below the knee would help me regain my freedom and get my life back on track. It sounds weird, but it was about improving mobility, not the other way around – and it’s exactly what happened.”
He scheduled the surgery and in summer 2013 went under the knife. As the hospital staff prepared to dispose of his amputated limb as medical waste, Avramov had second thoughts. “It felt hard to say goodbye after 40 years together.
I wanted to keep [it], so they let me cremate it.”
A short while later, he got his first below- the-knee prosthesis. The day after, he used it to ride a bicycle; a motorbike followed shortly after.
“Initially I thought to myself, ‘This is pathetic, I can’t even kickstart the bike.’” In order to kick start a bike you need to be able to lift your right leg as high as the seat and bend it to 90 degrees or more. Avramov couldn’t raise his leg high enough or bend it enough to create a 90 degree angle. “Also, you need to support your weight and the bike on one leg... So depending on which side I stand on and where the bike is positioned, more challenges present themselves.”
But with some creative thinking, Avramov adjusted his KTM 450 EXC, moving the kickstart pedal to the handlebar, he changed the clutch to a semi-automatic and added pivoting food pegs to make up for lost mobility.
“Just like I customized my body, I would customize the bike.”
During his recovery, Avramov said his wife and family were a huge support, and all the activities he used to love began to feel possible again. His daughters teased their one-legged dad and used humor to deal with the change. They strapped dolls to his stump; they had an amputee Barbie.
After six months, he was skiing with his girls.
AVRAMOV IS now preparing for the 2016 Dakar Rally, the toughest off-road vehicle endurance race in the world. The 10,000 km, 15 day course goes through the desert and mountains of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. “Dakar was always on my mind, way before that day. But it was always from an egoistic point of view, to prove that I can do it. The day of the accident, I think the first thought was: ‘Now I can’t do Dakar, I just can’t.’” The toll on the body in such a race is enormous. Temperatures can reach 52 degrees Celsius – in 2014, 23 riders pulled out because of dehydration and heat stroke, one rider died from these conditions – the highest elevation in Bolivia reaches 5,000 meters and riders can be affected by altitude sickness and freezing conditions.
“For me, it will be twice as difficult. My prosthesis has yet to be tested in such extreme conditions and I will need to deal with residual limb size fluctuations cause by these extreme conditions. The slightest misfit can cause pressure sores, skin breakouts, cuts and much more.
Any of these can prohibit me from wearing my leg, and then the race is over.”
Today, Avramov sees the race as a mission.
“I want to share my journey with others. We all have obstacles we need to overcome, be it physical or mental, and if we want it bad enough, we can overcome them.”
Why do it? “We don’t have much time here. When you have these big dreams and big passions, you just go for them.”
His challenge is threefold. First, training: He must be in top shape, physically and mentally. He plans to participate in a number of races in the time left until the big one.
Second, finding the perfect prosthetic: “Fitting a prosthesis is a challenge in itself, half art and half science.” He has tried 13 legs so far, but is not yet set on the perfect one. “It has to fit perfectly, otherwise you will be in a lot of pain.”
He has one leg for skiing, one for walking, another for running. “We are still developing a leg that will fit perfectly; I will need a few. I have to do the adaptation to the leg, so it’s in the same category as the mechanical parts of a bike. I may need a leg mechanic on top of a bike mechanic.”
Avramov has “spare parts” that he’ll need to bring: extra prosthetic feet, special hardware, liners, sleeves, specialty socks, personalized foot pegs and innovative hardware to allow better control of the bike.
His third challenge is in seeking sponsors: finding people who believe in him and his message, and will throw their support behind him. He needs to prove that financially he is able to accomplish the feat. To that end he is launching a Kickstarter campaign, and can be followed via Facebook at www.facebook.com/ erezavramovfan.
“Truth be told, it is not just about the race – it is about the process to get there.
It’s about what I need to become in order to make it happen – the best in marketing, sales, fitness, nutrition, riding a motorcycle, navigation, mechanics, time management, productivity, parenthood and so much more. It’s really about the journey of life and becoming a better-aware person who learns how to navigate the world.”
The lesson from Avramov’s story? “We can all reposition ourselves to make more out of life. Outdoor activities are my passion; they were taken away from me, so I fought and got them back.”