By: Abby Welsh
For Dave Dunville, losing his left leg about 10 years ago felt like he was losing a family member.
“I threw my hands up … and told the doctor to just take it,” Dunville said. “I had enough, and nothing more could be done.”
After multiple hospital trips and 21 surgeries, Dunville made the decision to have his left leg amputated roughly 6 inches below his knee in 2003.
Dunville was one of 17,000 Michiganders who lost a limb annually, according to a study done by the Amputee Coalition and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Years after the accident that eventually cost him his left leg, he’s been inspired to travel a new course. He now works for H-Care in Flint and spends time at Hurley Medical Center talking to patients preparing for an amputation or recovering from one.
Dunville was the first full-time amputee peer-support visitor in the United States, according to the Amputee Firefighters Association website.
“I walk into some devastating situations, and I will sit and listen and talk to them as long as they need me too because I know what that feels like,” he said.
