Amputee Miles O’Brien Shares How He Overcame Obstacles Post-Amputation
For decades, broadcast journalist Miles O’Brien has reported on science and technology for networks like CNN and PBS. He has stood at the launch sites for many of the space shuttle launches in the United States and has often found himself in the midst of history as he reports on the accomplishments and failures of scientific advancements. On air, he has interviewed countless individuals who are leading the charge towards exhilarating futures; from the tech giants of Silicon Valley to the entrepreneurs and scientists working to create better prosthetics or better genetically modified food.
In his career, O’Brien is known for his confidence and ambition, famously getting his first position at CNN as a science and technology reporter despite graduating university with a degree in history. He recalls that getting the position was accomplished by persuading the hiring managers that he would work twice as hard to understand the content he was covering, thus making him the most invested candidate that they could hire.
A knack for confidence, an ability to put guests at ease, and a thirst to cover the latest news in science and technology is what propelled O’Brien through most of his life.
In fact, the skills that he had gained over a career as a broadcast journalist aided him in his most difficult challenge.
At the age of 55, O’Brien was on a work assignment overseas when he was injured by a heavy box of tv equipment that fell onto his upper arm while stacking equipment. Although frustrated by the bruise and the pain, O’Brien dismissed the incident and was certain that he would feel better in the morning. However, the injury took a turn for the worse and O’Brien was diagnosed with acute compartment syndrome immediately before being rolled into emergency surgery to try to save his arm.
Acute compartment syndrome occurs when blood flow is constricted in a limb, and due to a slow manifestation of symptoms, it often times leads to the limb being amputated.
This is exactly what occurred with O’Brien, who woke up following the surgery to discover that his left arm had been amputated above the elbow.
Not one to despair, O’Brien immediately recalibrated his life and relied on his already curated skills of confidence, ambition, and empathy to carry him through the recovery process.
Using Confidence and Ambition to Recover
As O’Brien began his recovery process, he made a list that noted all the hobbies he hoped to modify to his new reality. The last item on the list was the ability to pilot his own plane again.
Early in his recovery, he met stranger after stranger who would see his new status as a man without an arm and place unfounded restrictions on him. Speaking on our podcast show, O’Brien recalls that he was told countless times that he would never be able to fly a plane again.
But O’Brien was confident that he would one day get there, simply because he could not imagine a life in which he never piloted a plane again.
So, he began working his way down the list, first learning how to tie a tie with one hand, how to handle camera equipment, and how to untangle his earphones. Along the way, he found helpful gadgets and inventions that made his daily life easier. He showed us the rocker knife he can use one-handed, the extremely sticky surfaces he can wrap around items to carry them better, and the adaptive clothing he uses to ease the process of buttoning shirts.
The key to a full recovery was taking one challenge at a time and thinking differently from how he once did. He shared with us that when facing a challenge, he could not think about how he would have done it with two hands. Instead, he approached it from a new angle until he found a solution that worked.
As for piloting his own plane?
Less than six years after the accident and O’Brien has reached the last item on his list to return to normalcy. With a new plane and some modifications, O’Brien can once again be found in the air, appreciating the landscapes below.
Finding a New Community
A significant gain for O’Brien following his amputation was becoming a part of the tight knit disability community. Prior to his amputation, O’Brien was unaware of what it meant to be a person with a disability, saying in a previous interview that ““when you’re not in that world, you don’t see it, you have to be there to fully understand”.
Although his amputation was unfortunate, it opened an opportunity to converse and empathize with the disability community on a different level than O’Brien had ever been able to before as an able-bodied person. He was able to form connections and share information with his fellow members of the disability community.
In forming connections and communicating with the disability community, O’Brien shared that he was humbled by the amount of support and correspondence he got from young people who wrote that his position as a broadcast journalist with a disability inspired them. Representation is important, and rarely do young people with disabilities see that reflected on the morning news.
In becoming a part of the disability community, O’Brien has become an important advocate that a person with a disability can succeed at any job with the right levels of confidence, ambition, and empathy.
Want to listen to Miles O’Brien in his own words? Check out Traipsin’ Global on Wheels’ Podcast Show at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtDEOnu0NHY&t=2028s