When Brent King, a veteran from Spokane, Wash., found out last year that he would have to have a leg amputated due to a bone infection, he decided to do something positive about it.
King donated the limb to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, where it has been put to use in training cadaver dogs to find bodies. Thanks to King’s leg, members of the Intermountain Search Dog Team were later able to locate victims of the horrific Oso mudslide in March.
KREM reports that King’s leg is being used in cadaver dog training programs from as far away as Wisconsin, and has helped hundreds of people.
King, who’s president of the Northwest Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America, has been paralyzed since 1994. While running an obstacle course during military training, he fell 22 feet and broke his back, according to a 2009 Spokane-Review story.
After losing one of his legs to a bone infection, doctors told King last year he would have to have the other one amputated, for the same reason.
King’s loss turned out to be a major gain. His donation has also inspired others facing amputation. Earlier this year, a woman from Idaho donated part of her foot to the cadaver dog training program, according to KREM.
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