Military survivor, double amputee to "drop in" to Birmingham
June 6, 2003 - Southern League (SL1)
Birmingham Barons News Release
Birmingham, AL â Retired Sergeant first class, Special Forces Soldier, and Golden Knight's skydiver Dana Bowman will "drop in" from a plane to kick-off Thursday night's Barons match-up against the Huntsville Stars. On Thursday June 12 at 6:40 p.m., Bowman will treat Barons players and fans to an inspirational feat of athleticism and bravery as he skydives onto the diamond at Hoover Met Stadium. Bowman will deliver the game ball to five-year-old double amputee and Birmingham-resident Hasaan Hawthorne, who will throw the game's first pitch.
Hawthorne was born with a condition known as tibial hemimelia (no shin bones in both legs) that necessitated the amputation of his legs at just 4-months-old. Thanks to a fantastic spirit and two prosthetic legs, Hawthorne has since become quite the athletic little five-year-old. Bowman lost both legs in a mid-air skydiving collision while with the Army's elite parachuting team, the Golden Knights. He has since become the only double amputee to re-enlist in active duty in the Army, a licensed pilot, and a motivational speaker who travels the country making more than 60 skydives and delivering more than 100 speeches each year.
Bowman's story:
He had done it a hundred times. The infamous Diamond Track maneuver was a crowd favorite. Crisscrossing within a few feet of each other, Dana Bowman and his Golden Knights skydiving partner created an illusion of passing "through" each other while smoke from their suits etched out a diamond shape in the sky. It was a spectacular display of precision and skill, usually executed flawlessly. However, during a routine training exercise over Yuma, Arizona, something went terribly wrong.
Bowman and his partner collided mid-air at a combined speed of nearly 300 mph. Both of Bowman's legs were severed instantly and the impact claimed the life of his best friend and partner. Bowman's left leg was amputated below the knee and his right leg was amputated above the knee. Soon after the accident, his wife of three months left him and the Army tried to retire him as disabled.
Determined to overcome his disability, Bowman returned to skydive just 188 days after his accident, amazing doctors and fellow parachutists. Within just nine months, he became the first double amputee to reenlist and remain in active duty in the U.S. Military.
Bowman wears the latest bionic technology, the Hanger Complete System. The Complete System is comprised of two components, the revolutionary socket called the patented Hanger ComfortFlex Socket System and the world's first computerized leg. The Hanger ComfortFlex Socket System increases control, command, and comfort with its anatomically designed channels and grooves that accommodate various muscle, bone, tendon, vascular and nerve areas. The first microprocessor controlled hydraulic knee, the computerized leg tracks and adjusts to a person's movements 50 times per second. The Complete System finally allows amputees to walk without thinking about how to walk.
"It's not the disability; it's the ability that counts." Bowman has said it a thousand times since that fateful day back in 1994. Inspiring Americans coast to coast, Bowman proves "it's the ability" again and again by making more than 60 skydives and delivering more than 100 speeches across the country each year. All of Bowman's work on behalf of children is pro bono. For more information, visit www.danabowman.com.
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