Doubly Determined

Charlie Hughes, a double-amputee, bikes, golfs and loves the active lifestyle of North Idaho

Charlie Hughes wears his Green Bay Packer pride on his leg.

His left leg.

The green, gold and white of Wisconsin’s favorite football team are visible as he pedals his recumbent bike on these beautiful sunny days that he loves.

“I want to take advantage of it today,” he said on a recent 6-mile outing from his Riverstone-area apartment to Coeur d’Alene City Park.

The 63-year-old, a man of smiles and laughter who’s OK with stopping to chat with strangers, is a double-amputee.

A diabetic, he lost both legs below the knees eight years ago due to an infection.

The right leg was removed in January 2012.

Always active, Hughes recovered quickly.

“I bounced back. I was doing well, like I had two legs,” he said. “Then I got an infection in my left foot and I wound up back in the hospital again.”

In November 2012, just 10 months after the first amputation surgery, his lower left leg was removed, too.

Positive, optimistic, and determined, Hughes did not despair.

Instead, he looked at it as a challenge — and rose to meet it.

“When I lost my right leg, I knew I wanted to walk again. And I wanted to drive again,” he said. “I guess that’s what kept me motivated. I didn’t want to die yet.”

Charlie Hughes is alive as can be.

Today, with prosthetics, he walks, drives, bikes, golfs and does pretty much what people with two legs can do.

He overflows with enthusiasm about life and all the opportunities that await.

“I’m feeling good,” he said. “I’m feeling fine.”

And that gives him a chance to showcase his Packer pride, with his left prosthetic decorated with Green Bay’s logos.

His brother, Bill Hughes, is a Packer super fan. The two have been to games at Lambeau Field together.

“My brother loves the Packers,” he said. “I do, too, but not quite as much.”

His right prosthetic, normally a tribute to his beloved Bulldogs in Spokane, sported the numbers “8” and “24” in honor of the jerseys worn by basketball great Kobe Bryant.

Hughes believes Bryant is one of the best of all time and he wanted to honor him.

“Normally this would be Gonzaga,” he said proudly.

This is his third set of prosthetics in three years, which he attributes to his commitment to being active — they wear out and his legs continue to become more toned. So, another set is being casted for him.

Hughes is retired. He was an equipment manager for a junior college in Los Angeles, and also was a school custodian in Los Angeles.

He has called North Idaho home for four years.

While little slows him, the coronavirus forced him to curtail some outside activities.

“I’m probably staying in a little more than I usually do,” he said.

And he can’t go to the gym, where he loved to grind out stationary bike workouts and took spinning classes three days a week to build strength and stamina and keep his weight in check.

“So this is my exercise,” he said, glancing around at the trees and the blue waters of Lake Coeur d’Alene. “Not a bad place to be.”