Post by TheShadow on Nov 22, 2007 6:30:44 GMT -5
www.insidebayarea.com
Otto still thankful for life's blessings
By Dave Newhouse, STAFF WRITER
Jim Otto has celebrated Thanksgiving Day every year, though from opposite ends of the economic spectrum.
He lived in a chicken coop as a boy; he now owns a million-dollar home.
But today will be his first Thanksgiving without both his legs.
However, through Otto's indomitable spirit and religious faith, he still finds reason to give thanks.
"I know I don't have two full legs," he said Monday in his Auburn country-club residence, "but I'm going to have a new leg tomorrow, and I'm going to have it on Thanksgiving."
Otto's mangled right leg was amputated above the knee in August, but the arrival of a permanent prosthesis has made him most thankful.
"We're gracious for what we've been given as well," said Otto, who always sees his glass as half-full, though others see it as half-empty.
Otto is football's poster child. He has suffered as no other football player has suffered from his storied 15-year career with the Oakland Raiders.
He was so driven to succeed, he played through career-ending injuries. He could barely walk at times, but he never missed a game. Thus he became Mr. Raider, a Pro Football Hall of Fame center and an elderly anatomical wreck.
"My body is sore all over," he said. "But if you can walk, you forget about soreness. You just go forward."
Going backward, Otto grew up in abject poverty in Wausau, Wis. His family lived for a while in a chicken coop until they could afford something better. The Otto children wore somebody else's used clothing.
But come Thanksgiving, they appreciated what little they possessed.
"We shared all of what we had with grandparents, aunts and uncles," said Otto. "No matter how poor our family was, we had turkey, apple pie, pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is a time of year to recognize what we should be thankful for daily, all year long."
Otto's whole life was pre-ordained, it seems, into turning negatives into positives. He took mostly trade classes in high school, yet today he is a millionaire with varied business interests.
If not for football, he admits, he would have become a welder in Wisconsin. If not for football, he also wouldn't be the physical basket case he is today, two months shy of his 70th birthday. His endless ailments seem unfathomable, as if he's Dr. Frankenstein's worst laboratory experiment.
Otto grew tired of counting his major surgeries after No. 50. He's had roughly 20 replaceable body parts to his knees, shoulders and back. And he's fought off death a half-dozen times because of football-related injuries.
"It can be shut off right now, completely snuffed out," he said of his endangered life. "I'm very thankful to be alive."
All the more reason for him to celebrate today, although his medical malaise isn't likely over. He's a candidate for heart surgery.
"As a Christian man," he said, "I've always been thankful to the Lord for all that I have in my family, no matter what we've gone through."
Such as the death of his daughter, Jennifer, from a blood clot in 1997. She was 39 and the mother of four.
"I believe everybody in life is given a burden," Otto said. "Some people have greater burdens than others. It's a fight to stay strong, but I'm not one to give up on anything."
A large painting of Jennifer sits in the entrance of Otto's home in the Sierra foothills. Son Jimmy, a divinity student, his wife, Leah, and their four children are visiting for Thanksgiving.
"My wife and my daughter-in-law will make it very festive," said Otto, sitting in a wheelchair with his right stump swathed in bandages.
There's more thankfulness to celebrate in the Otto household. Jim and his wife, Sally, had their 45th wedding anniversary Tuesday, the same day he received his prosthesis.
Sally has suffered physically, too, having overcome foot difficulties. But she was at far greater risk earlier this century because of an artery disease. In fact, out of six patients treated for the same disease at the University of California, Davis, Sally is the only one still alive.
"During that time, I took care of her," said Jim Otto. "She's in remission now."
However, Sally is the ultimate nurse, serving her continually ailing husband around the clock — a bedside devotion challenged by the recurring fear of his possibly dying.
"Through all the perils of our life, Sally has always been strong," Otto said. "I've never seen her falter when there is pressure. She is a blessing to be thankful for."
Especially on Thanksgiving.