Mike Crowe has refused to let the fact that's an amputee stop him.
A California police officer recently featured on ABC's "The Proposal" has refused to let the fact that he's an amputee stop him.
Mike Crowe lost his leg while riding his motorcycle just 24 hours before he was due to begin his active patrol following his graduation from the police academy in 2012. And six months after the accident, he was back on the job.
"About three months after my accident I got my prosthetic leg and was able to walk again," Crowe said. “The thought of getting back to work was one of the biggest motivators for me. I wanted to say, 'Hey, I can do this. Watch me do this.'"
But the road to recovery wasn’t easy for the 29-year-old, who got engaged to Monica Villalobos on "The Proposal" after knowing each other for less than an hour.
On the day of the accident, he was thrown 200 feet, and his foot was left hanging by a “piece of skin.”
He underwent 11 surgeries before doctors decided to amputate his leg below the calf.
“I thought my life was over at that point, Crowe said. “I thought I wouldn’t be a police officer, the career I had been working towards for years.”
He said as he began grueling rehabilitation he went through depression and had suicidal thoughts, but he kept going.
After six months, Crow returned to active duty after passing various fit-for-duty tests which involved running a mile and scaling an eight-foot wall.
"People thought I wouldn’t be able to do it but I proved them wrong," Crowe said. "Going back to work was a surreal moment."
Five years later, the City of Bakersfield police officer is on a mission to inspire others and says having one leg has never held him back.
"I don’t see it has limiting — it’s just another part of my life," Crowe added.
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