Hood River resident Becca Johnston and her prosthetic leg know no boundaries. This fall, she and other climbers will summit one of three mountains in South America to raise money and awareness for individuals who may not have access to affordable prosthetics.
Hood River resident Becca Johnston and her prosthetic leg know no boundaries. This fall, she and other climbers will summit one of three mountains in South America to raise money and awareness for individuals who may not have access to affordable prosthetics.
HOOD RIVER — Hood River resident, cancer survivor and amputee Rebecca Johnston has been selected to participate in the Range of Motion Project’s (ROMP) 10th Anniversary Climb Team. Johnston and her team will travel to Ecuador and summit one of the country’s three highest peaks in September.
The ROMP project’s mission is to ensure access to high-quality prosthetic care for underserved people, improving their mobility and independence. For Johnston, her path to being selected for the ROMP expedition was filled with new experiences, friends and a refreshed perspective on life.
In 2017, Johnston was living her best life. She had graduated from Hood River Valley High School in June and had secured an opportunity to play volleyball at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. Johnston was a three-year varsity starter for the Eagles and had high expectations for her career at Whitman before nagging knee pain brought an end to her playing career and changed her life forever.
An osterosarcoma diagnosis, eight rounds of chemotherapy and a failed “limb salvage” operation in her left knee led Johnston to her decision: Amputation. Doctors attempted to salvage her leg by removing scar tissue, but that proved unsuccessful when her knee pain returned.
“Amputation scared me at the time,” Johnston said. “I didn’t know anybody who was an amputee and I didn’t know about adaptive sports and I didn’t really know about all the prosthetic leg technologies that were out there.”
Johnston’s surgery took place in May 2020 and she embarked on another journey to normalcy. She began physical therapy and was happy to have her range of motion back.
“I didn’t regret a single thing. I was so comfortable,” Johnston said. “My entire decision to amputate my leg ultimately came down to mobility and freedom and achieving wellness through mobility.”
When the time came to find a prosthetic, Johnston elected to work with a company called BioDapt Inc. She desired the company’s specially designed Moto knee and Versa foot, because she wanted to get back into snowboarding. The BioDapt Moto knee is designed to simulate the quadriceps muscle to help stabilize the user’s stance and absorb impacts. The Versa foot helps stabilize and reduce impacts through the heel and toe.
Her return to snowboarding took time, but it opened other avenues. Her presence caught the attention of Team USA Paralympic snowboarder Noah Elliot. Like Johnston, Elliot is an osterosarcoma survivor and above the knee amputee. The two connected and Elliot said they need more women in the sport.
“I kind of just took it as a sign. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna do this snowboard thing’,” said Johnston, who soon after was receiving coaching from Team USA coaches.
“I just grew so much in three days of getting really good coaching,” she said. “It just really made me fall in love with the sport.”
After she finished her first World Cup circuit with Team USA in 2023, she tore her ACL in her right knee. While on the mend for her ACL, two of Johnston’s teammates were selected for ROMP.
“I was kind of jealous,” Johnston said. She kept in touch with the organizers and was one of the first to receive an application for this year — the 10th anniversary of their annual quest. Out of approximately 50 applicants, Johnston was selected to join them with the stipulation that she can raise $10,000. That money will be used to fund prosthetics for 250 people and help ROMP expand into other countries.
“Because getting prosthetics to these people, it not only gives them the mobility and freedom, but it gives them the ability to work, the ability to play, the ability to enjoy their family,” Johnston said.
Currently, ROMP operates in the United States, Ecuador and Guatemala.
Today, Johnston is working to raise funds while preparing for the roughly 19,000-foot climb. For a reference, Mount Hood’s elevation is 11,249 feet.
“I can actually tolerate it fairly well,” Johnston said, on the acclimation to her prosthetic leg and how it responds to vertical climbs. “There’s some limitations that come with an above the knee prosthesis where the knee can do a lot, but what it can’t do is power up. So like that motion where you’re stepping up a stair, it can’t do any kind of power extension.”
She said that most of her training will be spent building her stamina and preparing her heart, lungs and body for the high elevations.
Johnston is looking to her community to help her raise money for the Range of Motion Project. Several Hood River businesses such as Tum-A-Lum Lumber, Locus Interactive and Hood River Distillers have already shown their support for her. If you are interested in donating online, use the QR code or visit her personal fundraising page at secure.qgiv.com/event/climbingforromp2024/account/1731251.
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