Spirit Lifted

At Age 25, Army Hgt. K.C. Mitchell Lost His Leg In Combat— And His Sense Of Self-Worth. Six Years Later, He’S An Elite Powerlifter Who Scoffs At The Word Disabled.

- Andrew Gutman

K.C. Mitchell doesn’t want your pity. He’s spent enough time wallowing in his own—and he’s over it. Before the 240-pound powerlifter, dubbed “That 1 Leg Monster,” began decimating able-bodied competitors on the platform in 2015, he wandered down an all-too-familiar path many military folks traverse: addiction.

The downturn can be traced to April 3, 2010. Mitchell, now 31, an Army staff sergeant on his second tour in Afghanistan, was on patrol with his unit when they drove over an explosive device. Lying in the dirt and bleeding out, Mitchell had no idea where he was. When he came to, “I ended up being in a hospital bed for the next four months,” he recalls. “I wasn’t able to move.”

His ankle was fractured, his right knee was shattered, and both legs were shrouded in third-degree burns. Worse yet, Mitchell still had to decide what to do about his left leg: endure years of agony and physical therapy or amputate.

In November 2010, Mitchell made an “easy decision.”

“I saw other amputees doing well at the hospital,” he explains. “I knew with the amount of pain that I was in that I would be better off [amputating the leg].”