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Cat Hammes: A Free Spirit Rides On
By Brady Delander
Cathryn
"Cat"
Hammes is often heard before she is seen, and then she isn't in sight for very long. A blur of pink leather and chrome, Hammes fell in love with the rumble of Harley-Davidson motorcycles on her very first ride, and she hasn't stopped cruising since.
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Cat Hammes leads the pack at an Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) fundraiser in May. |
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In the spirit of the fabled motorcycles that she rides, Hammes is as tough and resilient as her ivory and chrome Fat Boy®. She took that bike on a 9,000-mile trek in 2005, exploring the far reaches of Canada, and when the weather allows she can be seen—and heard—riding that same bike around the town of Racine, Wisconsin. Hammes' Fat Boy had to be rebuilt after a serious accident in 2006, and much of Hammes' body had to be rebuilt too. Her friends say she is stronger for it.
"The fact is that she don't [kid] you," says friend Jeff Gustin, who did the work on Hammes' bike after the accident. "She'll tell you, If you don't like it, you never have to talk to me again.' She's not going to hide anything from you, and if you can't accept her for who she is, then don't even bother. That spirit has come out even more since the accident."
The Spring of 2006
Working the third shift at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital near Milwaukee, Hammes was one of only a few nurses allowed into the room of one particular patient. The man was a biker, and he reminded Hammes of her older brother, the one who first took her out for a motorcycle ride. Hammes and the sick man developed a bond, and when he passed away late one night in the early spring of 2006, Hammes says she couldn't sleep.
When the sun finally rose, and the air warmed enough, Hammes hopped on her bike and headed to see her mother and tap into her wealth of wisdom. "It was one of the first days when you could ride without a sweatshirt, and I had to hash out my thoughts with my mom," Hammes says. "It was about noon and I was heading to her house when a van pulled out of a liquor store. I woke up a few weeks later."
On the scene of the accident, Hammes suffered multiple skull fractures, and the rescue crew did a remarkable job of keeping her alive long enough to be transported to the hospital where she worked. Her leg was not salvageable. Hammes was 41 at the time, the mother of three, and her condition was serious for a number of weeks after the accident.
Back in the Saddle
Nearly a month later, Hammes spoke her first words, and what she said made it clear to everyone that she would soon pull through. "I think that's when my kids knew I would be OK, when I woke up and started talking about motorcycles," she says. "Getting back on my bike was the driving force behind my recovery. I knew if I could get back on my bike that I could be better. It was very cathartic, very healing."
The challenges were only beginning for Hammes, who isn't one to back down from anything or anyone. But the obstacles over the next ten months or so would test Hammes like never before. She underwent more than a dozen surgeries, including a second, higher amputation on her injured limb. In an effort to get her mobility back she tried about ten or 11 different prosthetic feet and a variety of vacuum and suspension systems, but nothing worked and everything was painful. "I would be riding alone in the middle of nowhere and lose vacuum," Hammes says. "Trying to hold up a 600-pound bike like that is the scariest feeling in the world."
Sandra Faulkner, a middle school teacher in Racine, has been on rides with Hammes when the vacuum failed. "Every time she would get a new leg she would tip her bike. She would do it once, and then she would be good," says Faulkner, whose husband is a distant relative of novelist William Faulkner. "She might tip on a corner, but she was always willing to get right back on and go.... Cat has an extremely positive spirit, and she has been through a lot in her lifetime. She has goals for herself, she's a good person, and she is always willing to tell you her opinion—good or bad. She is always the one encouraging me to get out there and try new things. I was avoiding traffic on my bike, but she started coaxing me to get into more high-traffic areas."
Free Spirit
Hammes was raised by a hardworking family in the Midwest. She says she married too soon and a few years later found herself undereducated and divorced with young children to care for. She always had an interest in medicine, but she didn't know how to break into a related career. One thing was certain: she would find some way to earn a living. "Not working in my family is not acceptable," she says. "If you're not dying, you better be going to work."
Hammes took a job selling car parts to put herself through nursing school, where she made the dean's list. She worked at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, spent time in the ER and trauma units of a local hospital, and eventually landed at Froedtert. Hammes was, astoundingly, terminated from her position at the hospital while on medical leave following the accident. But like so many of the other difficult situations in her life, Hammes just gets back on the bike and rides. "I'm not sure what I want to do when I grow up," Hammes says.
On the Horizon
Hammes says the toughest job she has ever had was raising toddlers. Her kids are grown now, all in their early 20s, and she says she has just about mastered her second-toughest job-finding the right prosthetic system. "The biggest thing for me was getting into a decent foot," Hammes says. "I'm always out on uneven ground at rallies. I have dogs and like being outside. The majority of my time is not spent walking around on even ground."
Hammes found Ray McKinney, CPO, McKinney Prosthetics LLC, Gurnee, Illinois, at just the right time. "Ray was my last ditch," Hammes says. "It was either I was going to find him or I was going to go upstairs and find a .357. And I'm not a quitter, but it had come to that point."
McKinney fit Hammes with the Otto Bock Harmony
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suspension system and the BioQuest Perfect Stride foot, and she now has the strength and security to walk over any terrain or rumble along on her Harley without the fear of her prosthesis coming loose.
This spring, Hammes marked the second anniversary of her accident the same way she marked the first anniversary.. .with a benefit fundraiser motorcycle ride sponsored by the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA). "I didn't want to do something negative; I wanted to do something positive," says Hammes.
Brady Delander can be reached at
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Photograph provided by Cat Hammes. 
Table Of Contents - July 2008
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