Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given - Duane Dog Chapman [102]
I sat Justin down and told him he couldn’t give up on life. He needed to find a way to turn his physical challenge into an asset. “This is your chance. Jump on board while it is moving, Justin. Start shoveling coal and do whatever it takes to keep the train in motion. We don’t know if it’ll last two more months or two more years. You have to ride the train while you can or the train will pass you by.”
Someone once told me “What you compromise to keep, you lose.” And that was exactly where Justin was in his life. He’d compromised his job with us and lost it. He’d compromised his life and almost lost it. He’d compromised his leg by smoking dope and lost it. If you had asked him if it was worth it, I think he’d have said, “Hell no.”
Before the accident, Justin would often accompany our crew on bounty hunts. I asked him if he still had his badge. He said he did. I told him there would always be a place in the car next to me when he was ready to come back to work, but first he had to get healthy.
By the summer of 2009, Justin had gained fifteen pounds, got some healthy color back in his skin, and found his laughter again. He never hesitates to do whatever it takes to get the job done. He doesn’t complain or grumble about anything. He doesn’t ask for time off and, frankly, doesn’t want it. He is willing to be by my side twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, taking care of anything and everything. His answer is always “Yes, Uncle.” There’s nothing he’d do today that would jeopardize the relationship we’ve all built.
Justin is a kid who needed a second, third, fourth, and fifth chance before waking up and realizing he had to do something to change his life or he’d live as a broken-down addict the rest of his days.
Justin returned to the team with great pride and humility. He shows up at the office dressed to hunt. He had to learn how to walk all over again, mostly by hopping on one leg or by using his prosthetic leg. He can jump as high as a kangaroo. He is as fast as a sprinter. He can move like a gazelle, quickly and with great agility. I can’t really think of Justin as disabled, because he hasn’t let his circumstances slow him down one bit. He’s been through a tremendous amount of physical therapy since losing his leg and has learned to walk without a noticeable limp when using his prosthetic leg. When he removes the leg, he’ll jokingly shout out, “Periscope down.”
Beth and I have made it a point to keep Justin close to us wherever we go. We are determined to make sure he stays on the path he’s now on. I love him like a son. We are always encouraging him to keep fit and take care of himself so he’ll never have to worry about his health again. Even though he is still self-conscious about it, he has started using his disability in a positive way. Through the show, he now has a platform to show people that having a disability doesn’t have to handicap you. Sitting around moping about his challenges is what handicaps a person. Being a one-legged bounty hunter is a huge step in educating people about that. God gave Justin back everything he ever wanted, but with a twist. He now has life lessons and a story he can share to be a blessing to somebody else.
A few weeks after Justin came back to us, a little boy from the Make-a-Wish Foundation came to see me. Beth and I were so busy with work she couldn’t come with me for the meet-and-greet with the young boy, so she asked Justin to accompany me. The little boy began telling Justin about how bad it hurts when his doctors and nurses poke him with needles. He said the shots make him very sick and that he doesn’t want any more treatments. His mother had told him that if he could just endure a few more treatments