Couple buys prosthetic leg off eBay, woman back on her feet
November 04, 2009 11:08 AM
ORVILLE, Ohio (WKYC) -- There is an ironic benefit to war. So many veterans are surviving horrific explosions that it's prompted prosthetic companies to put new devices on the fast track.
Sheri Eichar, of Orville, is grateful for that. She's not a veteran but benefitted from a new device that got her out of a wheelchair and back on her feet. But getting there was a long road.
Sheri was born with a partial patella in both knees. She required several surgeries throughout her life. Six years ago she had a minor operation to remove bone spurs on her left knee. The tiny incision became infected with MRSA, or methicillin resistant staph. It started Sheri on a journey that would include sixty surgeries, four amputations, and several near death experiences.
Sheri is not the kind of woman who understands the meaning of "can't do." Despite the birth defect in her knees, she became a gymnast. She married her college sweetheart, Brent Eichar, and became an active mother of three. But that all changed six years ago when her knee became infected with deadly staph.
"When it jumps to your blood stream now you're talking about a killer bacteria that could stop your heart and shut down your organs," Sheri says.
The first year, she went through sixteen surgeries to control the infection. After the last, her life would change. "The doctor that did the surgery went in and removed an abscess the size of his hand and he said this is not good it's in the bone and we were just shocked cause he said I don't see how you're going to save this leg," Sheri recalls.
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