Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville was involved in a chaotic blast while deployed in Afghanistan. The explosion left him with injuries to his right foot and hand. In fact, the pain was so severe in his leg, he asked to have it amputated below the knee. Linville now lives with a prosthetic leg. The first thing he noticed after becoming an amputee was people's attitudes toward him. It seemed they only had pity to offer him. It's not that they didn't mean well, but they started to define Linville not by who he was but by what he lost.
"All of a sudden I was in a hospital bed where people wanted to push me in my wheelchair and had nothing but pity for me and felt sorry for me and wanted to take care of all the time," Linville told ABC News.
For a soldier once revered for valor, strength, and resilience, this was a huge blow. That's when Linville became a part of a group called The Heroes Project, an organization that takes wounded veterans and active servicemen on mountaineering expeditions. Linville's climb? The biggest climb of all.
With only one leg, the Marine veteran made history. He is the first ever combat-wounded amputee to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. Needless to say, no one is offering him their pity anymore.
But it's what Linville brought with him that was another testament to his character. When he reached the summit, he took the tokens of fallen service members he brought with him and said a prayer for them and everyone who has lost their lives in service to the Untied States of America.
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