Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they just wear a snorkeling mask.
That was certainly the case in Oregon resident Ariel Rigney’s experience when she lost her prosthetic leg while rafting on the Clackamas River.
Lost leg
Ariel lost her real leg during a car accident when she was just a teenager. Ever since then, she’s been using a prosthetic leg and even uses it to go swimming and running.
Unfortunately, Ariel was bound to lose a leg once again after the bungee cord that was keeping it in place came undone while she was rafting. Apparently, it completely fell off the raft she and her friends were on when they happened on a bumpy section of the river.
Some of her friends tried retrieving it but ultimately failed.
Worst of all, it happened during what was supposed to be Ariel’s 32nd birthday celebration.
“I just saw it bobbing and I’m like, ‘No!’ I felt more ridiculous than anything. Like, who loses a leg, twice?”
Although a bit embarrassed about the situation, she took a friend’s advice and went onto Facebook to post about her lost leg. Ariel didn’t really think anything would come out of the post, but she was about to get a real surprise.
The next day after she posted her story on the social media platform she was contacted by a man, Eric Ganter. He even sent her a picture of her lost prosthetic leg.
Apparently, Eric regularly goes snorkeling on the Clackamas River and happened upon Ariel’s leg during one of his trips.
Now, while the friendly snorkeler has seen his share of peculiar things underwater, he admits he was shocked to find the leg at the bottom of the Oregon river. It even still had Ariel’s rainbow sandal attached to it.
Wanting to return the object to its owner, Eric searched for ‘Clackamas River lost leg’ on Facebook. That was when he found Ariel’s Facebook post.
Reuniting with her prosthetic and even striking up a new friendship with the stranger who returned it, Ariel updated her initial post to express her thoughts about the event:
“I still can’t stop giggling with gratitude, shock, and joy at the ridiculousness that is my life. I’m blown away that my leg has been safely returned to me, intact & undamaged. My new hero saved me potentially thousands of dollars, hours of work, and the physical pain/hassle of getting a new one made.”
But it seems like Ariel and Eric’s story isn’t quite as unique as we would think. This has actually happened at least once before.
Right next door in the state of Idaho is another avid river diver, Rocky Detweiler. Going into the Boise River often, Rocky has found his share of ‘treasures’ from lost sunglasses to cell phones and wallets.
He doesn’t keep these for himself though. Dubbed as the Robin Hood of the Boise River, he tries his best to return the items he finds to their rightful owners. And he did exactly that when he found a $25,000 prosthetic leg.
Rocky decided to take the leg to a company that makes them. The company was able to find the serial number on the leg and trace its owner. It was from there that he was able to find Josh Hawkins, the owner of the expensive prosthetic.
