What does it take to turn a life challenge into a lifelong passion for sports and coaching?
On this episode of We’re Not Stumped, host Mike Bolland talks with Marc Burkom, a double below-knee amputee born with fibular hemimelia who has built a life around athletics, coaching, and helping others reach their potential.
Marc shares how his parents made the difficult decision to amputate his feet when he was just two months old — a choice that allowed him to grow up active in sports like soccer, baseball, and basketball.
Today, Marc works in coaching education and advocates for expanding opportunities for adaptive and amputee athletes. In this conversation, Marc and Mike discuss growing up with prosthetics, the role sports played in building confidence, coaching amputee soccer, adaptive sports like amputee basketball, and how prosthetic technology has evolved over the years.
Marc also shares why amputee athletes should be treated as athletes first — not charity cases — and his vision for future prosthetic innovation.
Mike also introduces Enable Review, a platform where amputees can share honest experiences about prosthetists to help others navigating limb loss find better care.
This episode is a powerful conversation about resilience, sport, leadership, and redefining what’s possible.
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When should a limb be saved—and when might amputation provide a better quality of life? On this episode of We’re Not Stumped, Mike Bolland talks with podiatric surgeon Dr. Danny Ghannoum about limb salvage, diabetic foot complications, Charcot neuroarthropathy, bone infections, and the difficult decisions that can lead to lower-limb amputation. Dr. Ghannoum explains how diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, poor circulation, foot ulcers, and osteomyelitis can put a limb at risk. He also shares complex patient cases that illustrate an important point: saving a limb isn't always the same as achieving the best outcome for the patient.
What are you actually allowed to ask someone with a service dog? Do service dogs need paperwork? And what happens when businesses get the rules wrong? In this episode of We’re Not Stumped, Mike Bolland talks with upper-limb amputee Stevia Walker about service animals, disability, prosthetics, self-advocacy, and life after limb loss. Stevia shares an encounter at a hotel where employees demanded documentation for her service dog and incorrectly assumed the dog was an emotional support animal. She discusses what people and businesses should understand about service animals and why these interactions matter.
What does it take to overcome a challenge you've faced since birth? In this episode of We're Not Stumped, Mike Bolland welcomes Nathan Winston, who was born with Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency (PFFD), a rare limb difference that led to the amputation of his left leg at the age of four. Nathan shares his incredible journey from adapting to life with a prosthetic to excelling in football, basketball, and baseball. His determination eventually carried him to the Little League World Series and into the ranks of professional baseball. Along the way, Nathan reflects on the challenges he faced, the resilience he developed, and the mindset that helped him keep moving forward—even when the path wasn't easy.
