GAYLORD, Mich. — A Leg to Stand On has taken on a life of its own, according to author Lois Olson, a retired goat farmer from northern Michigan. She never expected a normal day spent helping with chores on a neighbor’s farm would result in becoming a published author.

Olson became an amputee in 2009, losing her left leg at mid-thigh as the result of a post-surgery bone infection. A Vietnam-era veteran of the Air Force, she spent more than 25 years as a premier breeder of Saanen goats. She achieved recognition within the breed organization for superior animals scored through linear evaluation, validated by wins in the show ring.

Dairy Herd Improvement testing documented outstanding milk production expected from superior genetics. Many a youngster in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Michigan received a running start with a 4-H goat project from her flock, and each student’s purchase was backed by her encouragement and coaching.

After an eight-month stay for recovery in a Detroit area veteran’s hospital, Olson returned to her farm, striving to pick up where she had left off. With assistance from Michigan AgrAbility, she was able to continue and rebuild from months of neglect, at least for a while.

After a few years, it became apparent that while the mind was still willing, time had taken its toll on her body and maneuvering through the annual cycle of kidding, chores, pasture upkeep, breeding season and more – complicated by a prosthetic limb – finally became overwhelming.

“It was harder to get rid of my goats than it was to get rid of my leg,” she said. “I finally realized that I had to close that chapter in my life. But God is good. My goats had to go, but I picked up a passion for quilting.”

She also channeled her knowledge into regularly helping friends on their farm. One morning started normally; nothing indicated that extraordinary compassion and understanding would be expressed by an indifferent, three-legged farm dog.

Olson was greeted that day by a group of worried youngsters whose prize 4-H goat had broken a leg. Using some household items, she set the leg while answering questions from an audience of children. During the process, her prosthetic became a hindrance and she tossed it aside.

Finished, the children returned Myrtle the goat to her pen and resumed their chores, leaving Olson struggling to reach and reattach her limb. In that moment, Kip, who had never given her a second look, came to her side, giving unexpected comfort and apparent understanding.

Olson grappled with emotional remnants of life before amputation at that moment and embraced a commitment to overcome discouragement, just as the old dog had done when he lost his leg, eventually continuing his job as farm guardian. (Coincidentally, Kip and Lois are both minus a left leg, while the goat suffered an injury to its left front leg.)

Having a disability gave her a new connection to her previously adopted children, each brought into the Olson home with some sort of special need. “After adopting the first child with special needs, we realized we were comfortable with it and our family grew to six children,” she said.

“It looked like a hardware store in our entryway, with the pile of metal braces and apparatuses that they would pile with coats and hats when they came home from school.

“Once I became an amputee, I was on equal ground with my children who had polio and couldn’t maneuver like I could. While I was still their mother, I couldn’t really enter their world back then.” She finally understood the challenges and barriers to just living life that are different when it comes to mobility.

A Leg to Stand On has only been out for a few months but already it has touched the lives of many. She hopes her book will find its way into the veterans’ community with its growing number of individuals who are losing limbs during military service.

“Missing limbs has become a reality in our society,” she said. “There is a greater purpose for the book – to have a story about people and animals with missing limbs. It’s a book you can give to people that shows you can live life after amputation, sometimes it’s just awkward.

“There is always someone to understand. This time it was the dog.”

The book is available at amazon.com in both soft-cover and Kindle versions. Even though her first royalty check was for only 99 cents, the exhilaration at that first  payment, validating her as a published author, ranks among Olson’s more memorable life events.