Life has a way of taking unexpected turns. Some of them are good; some of them test us in ways we never thought we would be tested. How we navigate through those changes is up to each of us. Sandy never thought that she would ever have to go through limb loss, let alone losing parts of all 4 of her limbs. However, in March of 2017 life threw her an enormous curve-ball in the form of septicemia. Doctors did all they could for Sandy, but unfortunately, the aftermath of her battle with septicemia resulted in Sandy having to have portions of her left hand and right foot amputated, her right arm amputated below her elbow, and her left leg amputated below her knee.

As Sandy focused on healing after her surgeries, she mentioned to Julie West, one of the Physician Assistants that works with Sandy's surgeon Dr. Valerio, that she had 2 goals that she would like to accomplish by this summer/fall. One of those goals was going to see country music superstar Martina McBride when she performed at the Muskingum County Fair on August 18th. This gave Julie an idea. She secretly reached out to Martina McBride's foundation, Team Music is Love. When the foundation learned about Sandy's story and how hard Sandy was working to reach that goal of being able to attend Martina's concert, they knew they had to do something extra special for Sandy.

Sandy had no idea that any of this was going on. Her medical team at OSU including Julie West and Dr. Valerio let us know what was going on, and we worked hard to make sure that Sandy was able to get her prosthetic hand in time for the concert surprise so she could be able to shake Martina's hand. It was so hard for everyone to keep this a secret because we knew that Sandy was a big Martina McBride fan. As Sandy puts it, "She is the most beautiful person and her music is beautiful. It touches me." Even Sandy's daughter was in on the surprise.

When August the 18th came, Sandy said that she knew something was up because she thought her daughter was behaving a little funny. Maybe anxious or excited, but when Sandy would ask what was going on, all her daughter would say was not to worry about it and not to ask questions. When Sandy arrived at the VFW hall where (unbeknownst to her) she would meet Martina, Sandy was shocked to see Dr. Valerio, Julie West, and Tim and Jaimie from Optimus. She was puzzled why they were all waiting for her there, but she was touched that they showed up to see her. Then, Martina walked in the room. "I didn't recognize her at first. I was certainly not expecting to see Martina McBride! It was awesome getting to meet her." When Sandy found out how this all got set up, she was floored, "I mean, who does that? I don't know of too many doctors who would do that for one of their patients. I can't ask for a better team taking care of me. All of you...just wow." Sandy never imagined back in March that through life's odd journey when she went through limb loss, the journey of her recovery would eventually lead to her getting a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet one of her favorite musicians.

Dr. Ian Valerio, Julie West, Sandy McGee, Martina McBride, Jaimie Howard and Tim Riedlinger.

Fate had one more special encounter in store to encourage Sandy. Later the same night that she got to meet Martina, and following her phenomenal concert, Sandy wanted to make sure that she got some fair food before she left. She saw a sign out of the corner of her eye advertising a pork tenderloin sandwich, and it was calling her name. When she went to order, she noticed that the gentleman who was running the food stand was a fellow amputee who was also missing his right arm. After talking to this gentleman for a while Sandy not only got her fair food, but she also got to meet a new friend.

Life has a funny way of taking unexpected turns, but it also brings us unexpected gifts as well. The trick is to find the good even in the midst of the most trying of times and to never lose hope.  As Sandy puts it, "I hope that people see me and hear my story and are inspired. If good can come out of a bad situation, then I am all for it!" We could not agree more.