By Stormy
What piqued my interest about Lonnie Hubbard was #1 he is a badass bad boy, #2 he is a biker, and #3 he is an amputee that rides. This combination, I feel, is a great story. The first time I met Lonnie in person was when he walked through my front door for this interview. I was immediately fascinated and intrigued.
Lonnie was born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Sheridan, Wyoming. He spent time mostly in juvenile detention centers, boys’ homes, and then joined the Army when he was 17. This clearly confirms he is a bad boy. He moved to Colorado in 2003, so that his then wife could attend college in Fort Collins. Lonnie worked in the oil industry for many years on drilling rigs and hopes one day he can get back into once the industry starts booming again.
Lonnie explained what happened to his leg. He stated, “I spent two and a half months in the hospital almost 4 years ago, and I lost my leg, and it was pretty rough.” Lonnie was not sure what was causing the pain in his leg, but he has a rare condition where his body produces thick blood and somehow a blood clot formed in his leg and destroyed his femoral artery. This happened while he was working as a driller. When he noticed his leg was hurting one day, he ignored it, and it went on for a few years. When the oil industry died in 2015, Lonnie started his trucking business. Sitting in a truck 16 hours a day, six days a week is bad for circulation, and when you have thick blood, that is even worse. His leg kept hurting and as stubborn as he is, he never went to the doctors to find out what was wrong. One day he could no longer take the pain and went to the emergency room, and they did a CT scan on his leg and found out he was losing it. They immediately set up an appointment with a vascular surgeon. The surgeon told Lonnie that it is worse than he expected. The femoral artery from his waist to his knee was getting 3% blood flow, and his leg and toes were turning black. The surgeon was surprised Lonnie was even walking on that leg. They tried to save it, but it got worse. The surgeon inevitably amputated his leg.
Lonnie said his story is worse than a bad country song, “I’ve struggled a lot since I lost my leg. I know this revision surgery I had two months ago helped a lot of things, but it is a 6-month recovery time, so in the meantime I am enduring a lot of phantom pains in my leg. The oilfield died, I lost my trucking business than my leg, lost my house and my marriage and then the ultimate low was I had to put my dog down in February.”
Lonnie runs around with the red and white crew along with his best friends, Monkey, Dave, Rob, and Josh. When he rides, he must keep a steady flow of whiskey going to deal with the leg pain. He explained, “I really don’t like riding like that all the time, but so far it has been pretty good since the revision surgery.”
Although Lonnie has a bad boy image, he inspires a lot of other amputees. Kermit, another local biker amputee, and he went to the hospital to visit a young man who was preparing to get his leg amputated from a motorcycle wreck about two years ago.
Lonnie felt that honesty builds trust, and he wanted the young man to believe in their inspiration. The ability to inspire others is an important skill, and Lonnie has that in his favor. Kermit and Lonnie kept their message authentic and human, and the young man was at ease before and after the surgery.
Lonnie and I became real good friends after this interview, and I am so glad I can call him my brother. So, ladies if you like men that have the bad-boy image, Lonnie is the eligible bachelor for you.