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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Amputee Skier Better Than Ever

Mike McDaniels quit skiing 25 years ago, but still became a certified ski instructor last month.

“I’m better than I ever was and I keep getting better,” he says, shaking his head in wonder.

Mike was an intermediate skier when he fell with his body pointing downhill and his legs facing uphill. Both legs broke. Help came after the blood had drained from them.

He remembers doctors telling him they couldn’t save his feet.

He asked them if he could walk and they told him he could with prostheses.

“I said, ‘Fine, amputate,”’ he says. He was 20.

Minutes after he was fitted with prostheses, some months later, he took off walking and hasn’t stopped.

“It doesn’t do any good to dwell on the negative. Why willingly defeat yourself?” he says.

Friends talked him into skiing again three years ago. On snow, Mike felt awkward, as if on stilts.

He still feels his feet, wiggles his toes, itches. But, “It’s a detached feeling, as if something’s between you and your feet,” he says.

Nerves in his knees pick up vibrations from his prostheses. It took Mike months on the beginner hill to read those signals well enough to control the subtle foot movements needed to ski.

Early this winter, a Lookout Pass ski instructor who had followed Mike’s progress, told him to think about teaching next year.

“He took it as a challenge and upped the timetable considerably,” Jackie McDaniels says, rolling her eyes at her tanned husband.

On Feb. 26, Mike passed his Professional Ski Instructors of America exam. Now he drives from his Post Falls home to Lookout Thursdays through Sundays to teach skiing. He has time - he recently lost his computer job when new owners took over his company.

“I’ve made myself happy,” Mike says, pressing his hands together as if in prayer.

“And that’s better than recognition from someone else or even more money. It’s very gratifying.”

Murder Plot

Chet Park is the main character in the Hayden Library’s latest whodunnit discussion series for the public. Chet is a senior criminalist with the state’s Bureau of Forensic Services. He knows all about forensic evidence, how it’s gathered and analyzed, whether murder mystery plots are realistic or not. And he’s willing to spill his guts.

Catch him at the Hayden Library at 1 p.m. Saturday .

Step right up

It’s hard to resist the Syringa Valley Chorus of Sweet Adelines’ audition notice for “The King and I.” Production manager Judy Riffe wants a woman over 30 to play Anna, the English teacher, but says she won’t demand any birth certificates.

The prime minister “Needs to bare his chest - well, a little” and “Wives get to have wonderful fun.”

Kids audition at 5:30 p.m. and adults at 7 p.m. today at Sandpoint’s Panida Theater. Call 263-5878 for a fun time.

Doing their homework

Not everything inspired by the government is a waste. AmeriCorps gives students the chance to raise money for college through community service.

Renee Scott and Alissa Puckett started tutoring centers in Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston through AmeriCorps.

Cheryl Jurgens helps shelter residents in Lewiston find needed services, Alycian Vinci planted native wildflower seeds in Bayview and Marcy Peterson designed 14 interpretive panels for the Sandpoint Fish Hatchery - all through AmeriCorps.

I waitressed my way through college, learning a lot about people on the way. How did you get through school? Tell all about your strange scholarships and jobs to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814; FAX to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.