Cape Cod Hospital nurse back in the swing after injury
As a Cape Cod Hospital emergency room nurse, Adam Pierce works in a stressful environment where the potential for treating significant injuries awaits at any moment. After an accident led to the amputation of his lower left leg, he now has a greater appreciation for his patients.
“My professional training teaches empathy and how to care, but being a survivor of trauma definitely gives me a personal perspective,” he said. “What happened to me has helped me be a better nurse. I have a real sense of how a patient with a severe injury feels. I’ve been there and lived it.”
Seven years ago, Pierce, now 53 and the father of two, was riding his motorcycle from his home in East Falmouth to work in Hyannis when a car crashed into him. His leg was mangled.
“I remember every detail. I never lost consciousness. When the paramedics got there, I told them I was an ER nurse and helped them direct my care,” said Pierce. “I said, give it to me straight. How bad is it? They said it was pretty bad, but I wasn’t in a lot of pain.”
Later, at the hospital, he learned he had 38 fractures in his left leg. He soon was faced with a life-altering decision: Undergo months or more of intense physical therapy while hoping to learn to walk again, or have his leg amputated below the knee.
“My wife, Colleen, is also a nurse at Falmouth Hospital and we had conversations with the surgeon,” said Pierce. “There were no guarantees the leg could be saved, so that didn’t seem like a viable option. It was all blue and I had no feeling. We just thought it would be better to take it and move on.”
And he has.
Recovery and Golf
He spent two weeks at an in-patient rehab facility and then spent time at outpatient therapy becoming comfortable with his new prosthetic. He returned to full-time nursing in about a year.
Pierce also decided to use his experience and become a Certified Peer Visitor with the amputee-coalition, a national organization of trained volunteers who have firsthand experience with limb loss. He wanted to help others by providing support and encouragement guiding new amputees along their road to recovery.
“No one knows what you’re going through, or what you’re going to face as an amputee unless you’ve been there,” he said. “Maybe it’s part of me being a nurse, but trying to help others is something I really wanted to do.
“I try to be available, in person or on the phone. I listen, share and have an honest conversation and reassure them there’s nothing they can't do if they put their mind to it.”
To that end, Pierce also made a promise to himself to return to playing golf. It was a difficult learning process, he said, because he had to make adjustments to his swing. But he was back on the course a couple of years after the accident and is now playing regularly, usually at Falmouth Country Club, Sandwich Hollows or Holly Ridge in Sandwich.
“It’s almost a new game for me now,” he said. “I don’t have a left ankle, so I rotate more at the knee and that’s different. I have to work on my weight transfer, my balance and follow through. I’ve probably lost about 30 yards on my tee shots, too. But I’m playing – and competing.
Competing in the U.S. Adaptive Open
Pierce was recently in a qualifying event for the U.S. Adaptive Open, a tournament conducted by the U.S. Golf Association to showcase athletes with physical and intellectual impairments and to promote inclusivity in the game. He played in Haworth, N.J., in April, and while he didn’t make the cut for the national championship, he was proud to be in the field.
“I guess you could say, like a lot of golfers, the game allows me to escape from a stressful job, a break from reality if you will,” said Pierce. “I’ve been playing for about 20 years, and I was really motivated after the accident to see if I could get back out there.”
Pierce said he enjoys everything about golf: “being on nice courses, being with friends, trying to hit purse shots, trying to get a little better. Everything just fades away for a few hours.
“Like everybody, I get frustrated when I miss a putt I think I should make, or have a bad shot, but I’m getting better at dialing it back. We all mess up on the golf course. You deal with it and move on. There are worse things. I know.”
