SEYMOUR — Chris Pranger was rounding a curve on his motorcylce in October 2021, when he collided head-on with a car and lost his right leg.
A nearby Seymour police officer saved his life by quickly applying tourniquets to stop bleeding from the missing limb, according to Gaylord Hospital where he did his therapy.
Now, less than two years later he will be among the nearly 1,000 people expected to take part in a 5K trail and obstacle course run this month.
Pranger, a 53-year old systems engineer, said he’s participating mainly to inspire friends, family and others in the community. He said he wants to show them that “whenever you’re dealing with something real bad, you’ve got to just push yourself.”
The event, the Gaylord Gauntlet, will take place on June 24 at the Gaylord Hospital campus in Wallingford. Participants will encounter natural and man-made obstacles, such as a rock climbing wall and rope swings, as they run on a wooded trail and open field. A few dozen runners are visually impaired or, like Pranger, have a physical disability.
According to the hospital, Pranger, who had worn a helmet, suffered 20 major injuries in the accident, including severe wounds and a buildup of blood between his skull and the brain’s surface — a condition known as acute hematoma.
Since his jaw had separated from his skull, he said he needed to use a breathing tube to breathe and consumed liquid through a feeding tube. Other injuries included a broken right wrist and a dislocated femur, or thigh bone.
Pranger went into a coma for four days and was hospitalized for two weeks at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport. He was then admitted to Gaylord Hospital, where he received additional treatment for his injuries and, for about six weeks, underwent physical and occupational therapy.
Erica Cutler, a Gaylord Hospital physical therapist and Katie Zimmerli, an occupational therapist, said in an interview that Pranger was just learning how to hop on one leg with a walker before he was discharged by the end of 2021.
Last spring, Pranger received his first prosthetic leg. He worked with Access Rehab Centers, an Oxford-based physical therapy clinic, to learn to use his new artificial limb. At first, Pranger said he fell down a lot without a cane or “any other kind of assisted device.”
Over time, though, Pranger improved using the limb. About a year after the accident, he recalls collapsing yet again at a Halloween party while trying to dance. After a friend at the party said Pranger would fall another 100 times, he began keeping count.
“Now I’m at 80. I’m counting down from 100,” he said.
Pranger now has an upgraded prosthetic leg, along with a new socket that he says has an improved hold on his amputated leg and allows better control. Although he isn’t able to run, he can walk fast. He is practicing for this month’s event by going for walks around his neighborhood.
“There’s a hill,” Pranger said. “Going up, I’m OK. It’s coming down because you’ve got to control yourself.”
Pranger said his recovery journey has made him realize a potential of connecting with those around him. He recently helped build a community garden for a Seymour-based nonprofit pantry and brought donuts to Gaylord Hospital staff. When asked about his missing leg by children, he enjoys showing them a graphic of Darth Vader fighting off aliens that he got printed on his new prosthetic limb.
Pranger said he was inspired to help others by those who aided him after his accident.
“I’ve had it before that I’ve always been there to help everybody and not asking for anything back,” he said. “Now when I needed the help, I saw who my true friends were who came around to really help.”