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 He thought he'd do a lot of hand holding and hearing crying, but the 36-year-old Marine Corps veteran instead saw resilience.
The new amputees asked a lot of questions about his prosthetic leg, which replaced the left leg he lost below his knee after an improvised explosive device blast in Iraq in 2004. He even took off the artificial limb and let them hold it.
Now, as marathon amputees walk on their own prosthetic limbs, Ganem is looking forward to catching up with them in Boston on Thursday. A dozen military veterans who have undergone an amputation will meet with 11 marathon amputees as part of an effort by a Chicago-area nonprofit called Operation Warrior Wishes.
"It's going to be good to see how far they've come," said Ganem, who lives in Reedsburg, Wis.
The nonprofit's founders, Craig Steichen, 55, and his son Matt, 29, went on a quest last year to bring wounded vets to football games at 32 NFL stadiums in 17 weeks. Craig Steichen said they met their goal, and even picked up a world record in the meantime for game attendance.
But with the New England Patriots' home season opener against the New York Jets on Thursday, Steichen said the nonprofit was interested in not only bringing wounded vets to the game, but getting them together with marathon amputees. The groups will meet in Boston before going to the game together.
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 Mery Daniel, a medical school graduate who lost part of her left leg in the marathon bombings, said she's looking forward to meeting the veterans. The 31-year-old Boston resident said that while marathon amputees didn't enlist to fight a war, they were exposed to the same kind of violence.
"We share now a common bond," Daniel said. "We share similar stories and similar injuries."
Chris Claude, a 33-year-old Marine Corps veteran who lives in Blakeslee, Pa., said meeting with marathon amputees will be his chance to provide the kind of support he got after the amputation of his right leg above the knee following a 2005 bomb blast in Iraq. He also likes the idea of the amputees coming out on the field together.
"It's another way for people in the crowd to see the human spirit can't be broken," he said.
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Online:http://www.operationwarriorwishes.org/
[Associated
Press; By BRIDGET MURPHY]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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