WEBSTER—No man has ever had a more fitting name than Nate Walker.

At the age of 23 he lost his leg due to cancer.

Yet today, he's a "walker" all right — and the C-Leg he promotes and uses every day helped him lead the "Survivors Walk" at the Burnett County Relay for Life Friday night (June 13).

Walker recently told the Grantsburg Rotary Club he is one of four people fitted for the limb to represent Otto Bock HealthCare, the company that makes C-Leg. He travels across the country to promote the product.

Walker is now a 29-year-old wildlife technician who lives in Grantsburg. He told Rotarians, "I was diagnosed with bone cancer and had to have my right leg amputated in June 2001."

He tried other prosthetic limbs but said they were hard to motivate, particularly up hills, and it was difficult to jump or leap. "Fact is, I did fall, like most people do with the regular prosthetic limb," said Walker.

Then he was fortunate to find the C-Leg and with help was able to find ways to purchase one.

When he spoke to Rotarians he said, "My wife is due with our first baby at the end of March and I am going to be able to walk around with that baby in my arms and not think, okay, what am I going to trip on."

Friday he flashed a broad smile and showed off his newborn child.

In the last six years, "I haven't fallen once," he said. he never has fallen."

And it's not because he hasn't tested the C-Leg.

"I live an active lifestyle and I have complete confidence in it," said Walker.

Because of the C-Leg, he feels so much more confident while holding his new child.

The leg is equipped with computer technology, including software that measures data from the sensors and controls the hydraulic cylinder, Walker explained.

Sensors take joint measurements 50 times a second and the resistance in the knee can be readjusted.

Walker calls the C-Leg "user- friendly".

According to Walker, many soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are fitted with the new C-Leg.

Friday night at Relay for Life Walker said two of the young men diagnosed with cancer at the same time as his are now gone.

"I relay because I'm fortunate to be a survivor; because others did not survive and to raise money and conquer cancer so others don't have to suffer from it."

Walker added, "It's an ambitious goal, but we must do all we can so there is no more cancer. There seems to be more and more people getting it, so we must do what we can to reduce those numbers."

Expect Miracles

State representative Ann Hraychuck lost her mother, father, grandmother and several others to cancer.

Friday night at Relay for Life she read a poem and said, "It brings me to tears every time."

It's called, "Expect Miracles."

Here it is:

"My name is Miracles.

I am new grass waving happily across a spring meadow,

I am summer rain falling out of the blue,

I am concrete and steel rising above the plains,

And rickety wooden shutters rattling by the seas.

I am promises made and promises kept.

My name is Miracles.

I am loving arms wrapped tight around each moment.

A smile when you least expect it,

A hug when you need it most.

I am bright yellow leaves warming a cold wet pavement

I am one day following another clear and bright.

My name is Miracles.

You give me life, I give you hope.

My name is Miracles.

I am the light at the end of the road,

and I am yours.

(By Peter Hale, 1984)

The Next Place

Well-known author Warren Hanson led the "Luminary" ceremony by reading from his latest book, "The Next Place."

The author from the Twin Cities used his book to talk about, "The Next Place," and his words shifted through the audience as the "Luminaries," lit bags with messages both for survivors and those who have gone ahead, caused viewers to stop and reflect.

The entire Webster track was lit with "Luminaries."

One of the "Luminaries" read:

What Cancer Can’t do

Cancer is so limited

It cannot cripple love

It cannot shatter hope

It cannot erode faith

It cannot eat away peace

It cannot destroy our confidence

It cannot kill friendship

It cannot shut out memories

It cannot invade the soul

It cannot reduce eternal life

It cannot quench the spirit

It cannot lessen the power of the ressurection.

As Relay for Life wound on into the night, folks kept walking and earning money to help fight the dread disease.

And all the while, the key to the future seemed to be a single word ... "hope".