COLUMBUS Boy refuses to be sidelined after amputation surgery

His determination has been a source of inspiration to family and others.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Recreational bowling isn't usually a spectator sport. Still, on Saturday afternoons at Rainbow Lanes, owner Bob McCracken can't help watching one of the young bowlers with amazement.
Nine-year-old Joshua McKinney throws strikes and spares with much skill and agility.
Without special assistance, Joshua -- whose arms and legs were amputated seven years ago -- has an average score of 98.
"I just marvel at him every time I see him," McCracken said of the boy who grew up frequenting the center while his father bowled.
With beads of sweat on his brow, Joshua scooches to the foul line with his 12-pound ball against his chest. He then lunges forward, aiming the ball toward the third arrow from the right.
"My daddy tells me to concentrate really hard every time I go up to the line," he said.
With a slight hook, the ball shoots down the alley -- often hitting the headpin. Frustration shows on his face whenever the ball drops into the gutter. Yet he quickly retrieves it for another try.
"There are so many people who complain about why they can't bowl good, and here you have Josh, who works so hard at it and really enjoys it," McCracken said. "It just makes you say, 'Wow!'"
Disease
At age 21/2, Joshua was stricken with a form of meningitis known as meningococcal disease. Doctors had to amputate his limbs.
Since then, he has remained a testament to determination.
"After the amputation surgery, I'll never forget the head of PICU [the pediatric intensive-care unit] came into the room, leaned beside him and cried," said his mother, Lori. "The doctor told him, 'You don't know how lucky you are.' You know you had to go through something terrible for somebody who has seen as much as he had to say something like that."
During his four months at Children's Hospital, Joshua struggled to recover from the life-threatening disease that had made blood vessels rupture throughout his body.
The problems began in September 1996, when he developed flulike symptoms. His mother planned to take him to see the pediatrician the next morning. Joshua woke up about 5:30 a.m., however, and asked for a drink of water.
Thirst saved his life.
"When I went in, I turned on the light and he was covered with purple spots like somebody had pinched him all over," she said.
His parents rushed him to the hospital.
"The doctors told us, if we hadn't gotten him there in the next 15 minutes, he would have been dead," said Mrs. McKinney, 33. "If anything brought me to my knees, it was that. He is our only child. It took me four years to get pregnant with him."
Will to fight
From the start, doctors cautioned the couple that Joshua might be paralyzed or even brain-dead. Instead, throughout the ordeal, the staff at Children's was impressed with his will to fight at such a young age.
"They couldn't believe how high his spirit was," said father Willy, 31.
Such inner strength often made his parents feel more hopeful.
"When the doctors told us they were going to have to amputate, I couldn't sign the papers," Mrs. McKinney said. "His father had to do it. I just couldn't do it."
The dream of bowling with his son was shattered.
"After I signed for the amputation," McKinney said, "I just sat down and cried and cried and cried. I've always bowled, and Josh loved bowling, and that's what I wanted him to do."
Dad stopped bowling -- and even broke his trophies -- because of the pain of what he thought his son could never do.
The day after the operation, Joshua had a new life.
"He woke up like you turn on a light bulb," Mom said. "I remember him asking for his daddy."
His recovery was remarkable. The third-grader at Colerain Elementary School on the city's north side uses an electric wheelchair, which he operates with his right arm. He doesn't wear artificial legs and, given his high level of activity, doesn't like his prosthetic arms.
Three years ago, McKinney returned to bowling -- this time, with his son.
Joshua also enjoys watching television and playing video games, riding on his scooter and jumping on his trampoline. An honor-roll student, he stays active in school, too.
Attitude
"What impresses me the most is Josh's ability not to look at his physical situation as limiting," said Vern Miller, a leadership trainee at Colerain, which serves students with orthopedic disabilities along with other students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
"Early on, when I got here, I noticed how Josh hopped down out of his wheelchair and was playing football with the regular kids," Miller said, "and I remember him serving lunch to other kids. Anything a typical kid does, Josh does. He doesn't let anything stand in his way."
Principal Doni Jackson agrees.
"The major disability in life is attitude," he said, "and Josh is so positive that there's not much, really, he can't do. He's a positive role model for all of us, and being around him makes you think twice before complaining."
His father, a factory worker, hopes that Joshua, like any other child, gets a good education.
"We want to treat him as normal as we can," his mother said, "because that's all he knows now."