Former RMU Quarterback Finds Hope After Leg Amputation

Camdin Crouse said he remembers every minute of it—lying in the bed of a pick-up truck with the bone in his left leg piercing through his skin. 

Crouse, a 2010 graduate and the Colonials' former quarterback, had been on a fishing trip with a friend near his native Snow Shoe, PA. The two were heading back home along the region's rail-to-trails paths, when it began to rain. 

"I remember everything," he said. "It started raining and it started to get a little dark and it started to get a little slick on the trails." 

Crouse's four-wheeler struck a downed tree limb, causing him to loose control of the vehicle. 

In the weeks following that accident, Crouse, a graduate assistant quarterback coach for the Colonials and former starter on the team, would lose his left leg, undergoing more than 20 surgeries to save his life. 

"I didn't feel anything at first," Crouse said. "My friend came running up to me, and I looked, and my leg was open. It was a compound fracture."

Now Crouse, 24, says his goal is to return to RMU's sidelines this fall and use his disability to inspire his student athletes. 

A Trip Back Home

Crouse said his fishing partner saved his life on the day of the crash.

It was May 3 and Crouse was on an RMU football scouting trip near his hometown. His mother had recently undergone spinal fusion surgery, and he stayed with her during his visit to help her recover. 

He and an old friend decided to catch up over a fishing outing. 

In the moments after the four-wheeler crash, Crouse's friend used a trout stringer and fishing vest as a makeshift tourniquet.

"My buddy, he has military experience," Crouse said. "So he was able to apply a tourniquet. He was able to get me back up on the four-wheeler and we worked our way out of the woods." 

The two made it to a nearby roadway, where they tracked down a truck to transport them to a hospital. It rained as Crouse laid in the open back of the truck, where he could rest his injured leg. The truck ride spanned more than 45 minutes. 

"I was just hoping to live," Crouse said. "And just didn't know what was going on." 

Hope After Injury

Crouse, a Moon Township resident, said he's always seen himself as a leader, and he's always wanted to be a coach. 

"I've always thought of myself as a motivator and a coach," he said. "I just never realized that I would have something like this to use to inspire people." 

In the hours after the crash, Crouse was airlifted to a hospital in Altoona, and two days later was taken to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where he remains. 

On May 14, Crouse underwent a below-the-knee leg amputation. He said the procedure was devastating, but one that he was sure he could overcome. 

"I found out I was going to have a prosthetic leg and I was going to do physical therapy," he said. "Everything was going well until I started to get really sick and got a fever." 

Crouse went into septic shock: His severed limb became infected, causing his blood pressure to delve dangerously low. Doctors at Geisinger removed the remaining portion of his leg on May 23 to save his life.

Today, Crouse has recovered from the infection, and is planning to begin physical therapy. He hopes to make it back to his childhood home in Snow Shoe by the end of the week to begin his at-home recovery. He said he is expected to receive a permanent prosthetic leg in the next eight to twelve months and reports that he's "getting stronger everyday."

A Rally of Support

Joe Walton, RMU's head football coach, said he's spoken to his former quarterback several times since the accident and is encouraged by his early progress. 

"I still consider him a football coach," Walton said. "Knowing Cam, he will be back on the sidelines.

"He was very competitive and a leader and certainly very bright," Walton said of Crouse. 

The long-time RMU football coach donated $10,000 of the proceeds from the team's annual toward Crouse's recovery. 

Crouse said the outpouring of support from his family and friends has uplifted him. His loved ones launched a website, HelpCamdin.com, in the days following the crash to raise money for his months-long recovery.

To date, family and friends have raised more than $50,000 for Crouse via the site, which Crouse said he plans to launch as a non-profit organization to help others recover from similar injuries. 

He said former teammates and friends keep him company at the hospital. His parents, whose home is more than an hour's drive from Geisinger, are staying in an RV camped ten miles from the hospital while their son recovers. 

"It makes me feel so blessed," Crouse said. "The site just spreads the word about what happened. It has my story on there." 

His goal is to return to coaching at RMU by the fall football season. Crouse is just a few credits shy of receiving is master's degree in instructional leadership at the university.

"Eventually I'll be able to do everything but run around like I used to," he said. 

He will use his injury as a tool to inspire the athletes he trains, Crouse said. 

"I plan to tell [my athletes] to use me when times get tough," he said. "When you feel like you can't go any more, think about me and those things you take for granted." 

Crouse said the loss of his leg has given him new perspective: He now plans to work as a counselor and motivational speaker. 

"There have been some good days and some bad days and some tears," he said. "But it's been really inspiring. It's my calling. And, hell, I couldn't have ever thought of it before." 

Visit HelpCamdin.com to learn more about Crouse's story and donate to his recovery.