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ROSHARON Stepping out in the thin air 14,000 feet above Brazoria County on Saturday afternoon and plunging 120 miles per hour toward solid ground was far from the scariest challenge ever tackled by this group.
The six skydivers "most making their first jump" were all amputees who have survived horrible accidents, endured terrible surgeries or successfully fought disease.
With their artificial limbs securely strapped on or left behind, they clipped themselves to instructors for tandem jumps, sailing to earth under brightly colored cloth canopies.
"Whoo! I am ready to go again!" shouted Richard Lockley, 36, of Wharton, as he hugged his 11-year-old daughter, Kyla.
The event, sponsored by Houston's Amputee and Prosthetic Center and several other companies, was designed to allow amputees to prove to the world, and mainly themselves, that their lives are not over just because they have artificial limbs. They don't have to settle for sedentary lifestyles.
Center president Joe Sansone said he hopes to make the jump an annual event. Nearly 30 amputees agreed to participate this year, but most backed out after hearing that the body of a skydiver had been found Friday afternoon about a mile from Skydive Spaceland center, the same site as their event.
The victim, Scott Bell, an employee of the skydiving center, died Wednesday, apparently after his parachute malfunctioned. Because he jumped alone and lived in a trailer on the center's property, other employees assumed he had simply walked home.
"When that news went out, people started calling to back out," Sansone said.
Sansone and a few others stuck with their plan to jump.
"I'm afraid of heights," he said, "but my employees kind of backed me into this. I had to go."
Afterward, he said: "It was fun, but I don't think I'll be ready to go again until next year."
He, like most of the others, was making his first parachute jump.
"I didn't do it when I had two good legs, so I just decided I'd try it now," said Wendy Logbotham, 30. She had endured 30 surgeries after her leg was crushed in an auto accident in 2001.
Before their jumps, each had to go through instructions and sign forms acknowledging that skydiving can result in injury or death.
"Before every surgery they tell you the same thing," said Charlene Lindsey, 60, who broke her left ankle in 1997 when she tripped over a telephone cord in her apartment. The injury led to a staph infection and five years of pain before her leg was amputated.
William Silva, 28, of South Padre Beach, said he was celebrating the anniversary of the Marine Corps' founding on Saturday. The former Marine lost a leg when he was standing next to a motorcycle that was struck by a car in 2003.
"I don't let it get me down," said Silva, who had an old-fashioned bottle opener attached to the side of his fake leg.
Jody Wallace, 27, who works with amputees at the center, helped come up with the idea for the event. Having made one skydive before an auto accident led to her 2002 amputation, she thought it would be a good way to show that amputees can still be adventurous.
First out of the airplane was 89-year-old Fred Winter, who made a similar tandem jump six weeks ago. Unlike the others, Winter took off his artificial limb before making his jump. Once he got in the plane, he took it off and handed it to his son-in-law, Lee Bales.
"It went better than the first time," Winter said Saturday. "I knew more of what to expect this time and I made a better landing."
While most of the jumpers said they'd be willing to go again, Winter said his skydiving career is over.
Of course, that's also what he said after his first jump.
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