LI Marathon: Amputee Michael LaForgia continues to inspire
Mike LaForgia, of Smithtown, runs the NYC Marathon Nov. 1, 2009 for the first time as an amputee and cheers on the crowd after completing 16 miles. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Michael LaForgia wasn’t supposed to run again.
That’s what doctors told him in 2009, after they amputated his right leg below the knee and part of his left foot because of bacterial meningitis.
But there was LaForgia Sunday morning, crossing a finish line as he has several times since. The 50-year-old completed the Long Island Marathon’s half marathon in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 49 seconds on a pair of carbon-fiber running prosthetics.
“It’s great to be able to do this as an amputee,” he said, “because it gives me another sense of being able to do what I used to be able to accomplish.”
Before the amputations, LaForgia said he ran half-marathons in an hour and 40 minutes. But the man who trains with the Silver Linings Running Crew — named partially in reference to the David O. Russell film, “Silver Linings Playbook” but also aptly for one of its key participant’s return to competition — is just happy to run.
“In the past, I would run a race, get in my car and go home,” he said. “You would never know I was here. Now people get some inspiration out of what I’m doing. I’ll take the extra hour and the inspiration.”
