“Linda left few dry eyes in the house. She inspired us to live life to the fullest, no matter what has happened.”
—Bob Miller, Board Member, Iowa Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association
At age twenty-nine, Linda Olson lost both her legs above the knee and her right arm in a train vs. car accident in Germany. “I didn’t marry your arms and your legs … if you can do it, I can do it,” was the first thing her husband, Dave Hodgens, said to her after the accident. In those first few days they chose to focus on what they could do, not what they couldn’t do. Linda and Dave proved that anything and everything is possible. “If you’re not getting the answer you want,” says Linda, “ask a different question. There is always a way.”
Linda was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2015. Today she is committed to empowering Parkinson’s patients and families to live life as full as possible, in spite of their disabilities, and to get up, get out, and go. She offers resources, tips, and heartfelt motivation in her blog and talks and firmly believes that “If I can do it, You can do it.”
Read The “No-Legs” Grandma Blog
GET OUT AND GO-Wedding Dress Shopping
Linda decides to get out and go shopping for a mother-of-the-groom dress.
41 YEARS
Less than two years after we said our wedding vows, “in sickness and in health, till death do us part” became reality when I lost my legs and an arm in a train accident. Dave told me he didn’t marry my legs and my arms. For forty-one years Dave has lived our wedding vows.
IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN
It’s that time again. Mid-August. Long, hot, muggy days. And this year, unrelenting smoky skies. August holds a day that turned my life upside-down. Thirty seconds late in the month—the small amount of time it took for both legs and one arm to be severed from my body....
“It doesn’t matter what has happened to you, or what you don’t have, it’s up to you to make things happen.
It’s up to you to Get Out and Go!”
—Linda
Illustration by Tiffany Hodgens Johnson
Video by Michael Wat and Bennett Leeds. © 1981 USC, School of Cinematography, All rights Reserved.