Despite setbacks, St. Joseph man working toward goal of walking again

By Ashley Luthans

A local man has skirted death twice in the past year. Although he lost his leg in the process, Mark Adams has remained positive and has worked hard toward recovery.

Adams, a resident of St. Joseph, had a tumultuous 2023. The year began with issues carrying over from October 2022, when he had foot surgery that left him with the inability to lift his right foot.

In March 2023, Adams and his wife traveled to Cancun, Mexico, where he had an accident.

“We decided to take a walk one morning and a car was coming up the driveway as I was crossing and I jumped and got my foot caught in the storm drain … So, um, it severed the arteries and the veins in the back of my leg, that big artery. And I got to check something off of my bucket list: I rode in a Mexican ambulance.”

This accident put Adams in the hospital for eight days, six of which were spent in the ICU.

After three surgeries, Adams returned home to be treated by Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph.

He had seven surgeries during the summer of 2023 at Mosaic and spent three weeks there, followed by an additional three-week stint in the hospital later in the summer.

However, in late August, Adams’ foot and leg became infected, leading to a below-the-knee amputation on his right leg. Two days later, his knee joint became infected and was amputated as well.

Miraculously, Adams was able to recover. After his time at Mosaic, Adams went to ClearSky Rehabilitation Hospital in Elwood, Kansas, and spent seven weeks there.

Now, Adams is learning to walk again with the help of physical therapy.

Adams attends physical therapy with Mosaic two times a week, progressing toward learning to walk again.

Lisa Adams, Mark’s wife, said she is proud of her husband’s perseverance.

“He’s had a good attitude,” Lisa Adams said. “You go through your ups and downs of course, and then you go through those ups and downs again. But he’s got a good attitude. He’s got a healthy, achievable goal and he just continues to push himself. I’m super proud.”

Mark Adams expressed gratitude for the amount of support he has received from family, friends, medical staff and the community.

“A lot of people on our side, we had a lot of people praying and giving a lot of thoughts and so, man, we just couldn’t have just hit it any luckier from the crowd that was doing that,” Mark Adams said.

Mark Adams also gave special recognition to his wife, who has been by his side throughout everything.

“My wife has just been a total angel,” he said. “She took care of everything in Mexico, she’s been taking care of everything with the insurance companies and yeah, she’s been heaven-sent for me. And she keeps me on my toes, I mean, she makes me get up and walk and get up and do exercises. I couldn’t have done this without her.”

Mark Adams will soon be getting a new prosthetic leg, as well as a “computerized” knee.

He’s not letting anything stop him, though. Mark and Lisa have big plans coming up in 2024.

“And are we going back to Mexico this spring, you bet,” Adams said. “We’re leaving in March for seven days, and everybody’s saying that we’re crazy and I said, ‘Mexico didn’t do this to me.’ And I said, ‘We’ve been going for 18 years and have never had any problems and this is a first, so we’re gonna do it again.’ I’m bound to be walking very soon without any kind of assistance.”

Adams can now use his forearm crutches and is working toward being able to walk with only one crutch.