Purdue program teaches those with disabilities how to fly

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Two years ago Emily Hupe stared through her hospital window at the clouds and wondered if she would be up there, in Heaven, soon.

Her stomach wasn't emptying properly and in turn poisoning her body from the inside out. The lower half of her body had been paralyzed for 11 years after a Caesarean section went awry and now the muscles inside her stomach weren't contracting.

There were times the doctors weren't confident she would make it through the night. Laying on her back and staring at the sky, the clouds symbolized the end for Hupe.

Now, the clouds are her new beginning as she trains to become a pilot.

Hupe is one of four students in this summer's Able Flight program that is specialized for students with physical or hearing disabilities.

For the ninth consecutive year, Purdue is the primary training ground for the national organization. This year, Julia Velasquez of California and Asher Kirschbaum of Maryland, who are both deaf, and Kory Puderbaugh of Idaho and Emily Hupe of California, who both use wheelchairs, will earn a light sport pilot license at the end of their course in June.

Growing up in Iowa, Hupe use to sit on her father's lap as he flew a four-seater plane for fun. But the Able Flight program is about more than nostalgia for her; it's about regaining independence.

During the birth of her seventh child, Hupe was chemically burned on her spinal cord, an injury, she said, that has only happened to one other woman. Due to the rarity of her paralysis doctors weren't sure exactly what happened and sent her home without physical therapy.

"I turned my back on the disabled community because it wasn't me," Hupe said. "Not in a negative way, but it just was not me."

Hupe was set on reversing her fate. She and her husband drained their savings looking for therapies and medical treatments to help her regain mobility.

"For so long it was temporary," Hupe said. "It wasn't until my 10 year anniversary that we realized we have to start shifting into living like this. Now, I'm just trying to get my life back after 13 years."

When her digestive track stopped functioning properly Hupe lost all her independence. She couldn't drive herself anywhere much less be alone in another state like she is this summer at Able Flight.

At home in California, Hupe works with the Triumph Foundation, a nonprofit that helps those with spinal cord injuries or disabilities. She hopes both her pilot experience and her volunteer work will help inspire others who are use wheelchairs.

"You don't have to be a patient; you can do crazy stuff like we are all doing now," she said.

Hupe said the program is helping her regain her independence, her identity and, most importantly, her title of "badass mom" according to her son.

As the youngest member of the U.S. wheelchair rugby team, Puderbaugh has also taken on the role as bad ass role model. During the last match against Australia he scored 10 goals for Team USA, earning him a silver medal.

"When you're a kid you always look up to all these people you want to be like and after some time you sort of become that person without realizing it," he said. "It's both humbling and a responsibility."

After spending his early childhood in a Polish orphanage, Puderbaugh was brought to the United States to be adopted at age five. When he landed in America he remembered looking up at the sunset with airplanes trailing by in the sky. That was when flying was added to his bucket list.

Puderbaugh is the first four amputee student in the Able Flight program, meaning some slight variations in his plane have been made such as adding a glove-like rope to give Puderbaugh a better grip on side controls.

For both Puderbaugh and Hupe, the brakes and other foot controls have been adjusted to be hand controls.

Puderbaugh's instructor, Christina Gursky, said Puderbaugh has been quick to adapt and figure out what works best for him.

"I told Kory I'm not going to tell you you can't do something until you prove to me you can't do it," Gursky said. "We're just going to keep trying everything and work from there."

In the sky, Puderbaugh has learned to think ahead because he's doing what most pilots do with two hands with only one.

"It's like anything, you're going to stumble a little bit but once you get the mind and muscle memory connection you remember it," he said. "If you're confident and you're calm then you can adjust to whatever situation may arise."

Operating off a series of checklists gives him the discipline to pay attention to the details, he said. This is a skill set he plans to use to check off his other bucket list items. Before he left for Rio in 2016 he told his local Idaho paper he wanted to be an Olympian, a billionaire and a philanthropist.

"I am a student of life, I let life teach me," Puderbaugh said. "I pick up one piece of wisdom every day."

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Source: Journal & Courier

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Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com