Most days, you'll find Gloria at the barn with her horse, Kash, or around the dinner table with the family of 27 who cheer her on. Not long after the accident that changed her life, she knew exactly what she wanted to get back to, and she has spent every day since getting there. Along the way, she became our 2024/25 Goal Digger of the Year!
Three Legs, Please
We first met Gloria in her hospital room. One of her family members knew Jason Auyer, Owner of Alliance Prosthetics + Orthotics and Clinical Director, and asked him to stop by.
Jason had barely made it through the door before Gloria looked up and told him what she would need her legs for.
"I want three legs. I want a tennis shoe for every day. I need a leg with the spur on it so I can still ride my horse, and I need a leg where I can wear high heels."
Jason still laughs about it to this day. And that leg with the spur on it, for the horse? She wasn't kidding.
"The wonderful thing is, I still ride my horse all the time," Gloria said.
At the Barn Almost Every Day
If you want to get to know Gloria, start at the barn. Before the accident, she was out there almost every day, and she rode almost every day.
She showed horses for years. Then she and her husband, Jimmy Syfan, spent years hauling two little girls all over the country so they could show too, right up until they turned 15, "that magic number where cars and boys come into the picture."
When they sold the farm, Gloria held on to her youngest horse, Kash, and moved him to Rock and T Ranch, a boarding barn in Clermont. The folks there do extreme cowboy racing. Gloria brought her show skills, and her new barn friends made her a braver rider.
"We do all kinds of crazy things with our horses, going over rocking bridges and water-filled bridges and through curtains, and he can even walk through fire," she said.
The Day Everything Changed
Almost three years ago, Gloria and Jimmy took the boat out with their little dog, Callie. It was a gorgeous, windy day, says Gloria. They'd been out about three hours and were pulling in to dock when a gust caught Gloria's hat and dropped it in the water right behind the boat.
Jimmy told her to let it go. They'd get her another one. But it was right there, so Gloria went after it.
She leaned over the back, slipped in, and swam right back to hold on to the deck. For a minute, the two of them were just talking. Then everything changed.
"I felt my foot starting to be shaken back and forth. I never felt any pain, but I knew what was happening, and I yelled."
At 82 years old, with a little prayer and some superhuman strength, Jimmy pulled her out of the water and up onto the back of the boat. A White County sheriff's deputy, fishing nearby, had seen the whole thing and immediately called 911. Even in that moment, Jimmy had the presence of mind to take off his belt and make a tourniquet.
And somehow, through all of it, Gloria was thinking about her dog, Callie. She knew the ambulance wouldn't take a
dog, so she told Jimmy to call their son, who lives about a mile down the road, to come get her. That's Gloria for you.
Then came Joshua, an off-duty Hall County EMT heading home from work. He heard the emergency call go out on his radio just as he passed the lake venue, and he whipped in to help. At the shore, he tightened the tourniquet and gave Gloria one job: say three names out loud, all the way to the hospital.
"I remember repeating the words over and over and over again: Gloria, Jimmy, and Joshua."
At the hospital, her doctor told her they might not be able to save her leg.
"I said the silliest thing back," she said. "I said just fix it."
They could not save her leg due to the damage from the boat propeller and had to amputate it above her knee. But ask Gloria about those days, and she won't dwell on the hard parts. She'll tell you how glad she was to be here.
"I was so glad to be alive. It never entered my mind I should be unhappy or sad about anything. I'm on a whole new journey, and it's a good journey."
A Leg Built for the Barn
From day one, Kash was part of the plan. So Jason from Alliance P+O took the plan to the barn.
He came out to Rock and T Ranch with a group of students from Kennesaw State and programmed Gloria's leg just for riding. It holds a position that lets her post up and down, and it keeps her knee from buckling when she puts weight on her foot.
Riding still took some creative problem-solving. At first, Gloria couldn't feel her left side, and she kept tipping to the right. So she grabbed one of Jimmy's belts and tied it around her saddle strap and her left leg. Clever, right? It helped, but she still couldn't lope.
Then a friend who builds saddles had an even better idea.
"Gloria, you need a seat belt," he told her, "a strap across your leg that you can tighten tight, and yet you can release it if you need to."
So he built her a saddle with a seat belt in it.
"Now I can lope, I can trot, I can lope poles, I can do most anything," Gloria said.
A Team Effort
Gloria will tell you she was a little nervous about getting back on her horse, Kash. Lucky for her, four of the riders at her barn happen to be physical therapists! They walked her right over and wouldn't take no for an answer about her getting back on Kash.
"They said, 'You're doing it,'" Gloria said.
Another friend, a builder, made her a ramp with stairs that lined up right with her stirrup, so she could step straight into the saddle. She used it for about a year and a half. These days? She climbs on with a regular little two-step, just like everybody else.
Kash had some learning to do, too. He's trained to move away from pressure, and without her left leg against his side, he kept wanting to circle to the left. So all winter long, her friend Pat taught him to listen to a light touch of a crop on that side instead. Now he side passes and backs through serpentines like a pro.
"My whole journey has been a team effort," Gloria said.
Would I Do This With Two Legs?
For Gloria, the hardest part was learning to be independent again. She met Jimmy when she was 15, married him at 18, and he has taken care of her ever since. So watching her get back behind the wheel or back in the kitchen on her own was a big step for him and the whole family. They hovered a little, she'll tell you, but they always made sure she had the chance to do it herself.
"The hardest part is learning to be independent again. The easiest part has been learning to be independent again. It just all depends on how you look at it."
It helps that she can laugh at herself. Early on, she and Jimmy were standing at the kitchen counter, chatting away, when her knee bent right out from under her.
"All of a sudden, I was like the Eiffel Tower. I just went boom."
She wasn't hurt, and the two of them were cracking up. The very next day, she asked her physical therapist to teach her how to get up off the floor on her own.
Gloria lives by one simple rule.
"I ask myself this almost every day: Would I do this task if I had two legs? And if the answer is yes, I do it."
That rule covers the last dirty coffee cup in the sink at the end of a long day. It covers grocery shopping too on the days every step takes a little more effort.
"Just go do it, because if you ever quit, you're done."
"Just be grateful you have the opportunity to try."
Gloria Syfan
Boot Camp, Three Days a Week
Gloria has worked hard for every step. Part of her physical therapy was at PCOM with a therapist named Carol, whom Gloria lovingly calls "a little bit like boot camp." But Gloria will be the first to tell you how much Carol means to her.
"I was so grateful for her because I had a bad limp when I went to her," Gloria said. "She spent the time to tell me that's not right. Do this. She helped me tremendously."
At home, she ordered her own cones, a big ball, and a balance board, tucked them behind the sofa, and did her exercises while she watched TV. Multitasking at its finest!
Then her son, the workout fan of the family, told her it was time for strength training. So now she meets with a trainer every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for an hour: treadmill, ski machine, stepping over poles, free weights, the works. She started out carrying 5 pounds in each hand. Now she carries 15!
Which means she can scoop up Callie, all 17 pounds of her, whenever she wants and carry her to the sink for a bath. Callie is not nearly as thrilled about this as Gloria is.
"I'm 81," Gloria said. "I want to be 90, being able to pick up my dog and walk to the grocery store from the car."
So what is she proudest of?
"There's several times I walk in places and no one notices I have anything wrong, and I get very proud of that because I've worked hard," Gloria said. "I went through all the physical therapy classes."
All that hard work is exactly how she became our 2024/25 Goal Digger of the Year!
27 Cheerleaders
Gloria's family is 27 strong in Gainesville: Gloria and Jimmy, their two sons and their wives, the grandchildren and their husbands, and the great-grandchildren. Her grandkids call her "Go-Go," a nickname that fits her positivity and high energy perfectly. And every single one of them is in her corner.
Right in her own family, Gloria has two wonderful examples of living life to the fullest, no matter what. Jimmy had a double lung transplant 22 years ago, and Gloria says he has never complained in his entire life.
Then there's her youngest great-granddaughter. At just three years old, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Doctors gave her very little chance of living, and warned that even if she did, she might not mentally mature much past that age, and her hair might never grow back after all the radiation.
She's 13 now. She has long, gorgeous hair, she's in advanced classes at school, and she's a cheerleader. She proved every one of those predictions wrong.
"Neither of them has let any obstacle stand in their way. They go on with their life. They love life. It's what you make it. So that's why I try to live up to them."
Words for Someone Just Starting
We asked Gloria what she'd tell someone starting right where she started. Her answer sounds a lot like the way she lives every day.
"You have to laugh at yourself a lot."
"Life is good. You have a great life to live. Don't be afraid to live it."
Always the Same Gloria
This year was a big one: the first time since the accident that Gloria could really dig into the holidays. At Halloween, the family puts out a lot of skeletons and throws a huge scavenger hunt. And Christmas? Gloria loves to decorate, and this year she can take on more of the heavy lifting herself.
As for what's next, Gloria's goal is simple: keep getting better at what she can do, and be an encouragement to people who are just starting their own journey. If you ask us, she already is.
"It would be so easy to allow other people to do everything for you. They're willing, and you can let them. But then you aren't yourself anymore. And I wanted to be me."
Not long after the accident, Gloria's nail technician came by her house to see her. Gloria still remembers what she said the moment she walked in the door.
"She said, 'Oh, Gloria, I'm so happy to see you. I was afraid you wouldn't be the same person.' So that's my goal: always be the same person, and that should be their goal."
Gloria went from a hospital bed, asking Jason for three legs, to loping Kash in a saddle with a seat belt. She trains three days a week, she's our 2024/25 Goal Digger of the Year, and she's aiming for 90. Go-Go, we'll be cheering you on every step of the way!
What's Your Goal?
Every device we make at Alliance Prosthetics + Orthotics starts with one question: what are you trying to get back to? Tell us what you're working toward, and we'll help you figure out the rest.
(770) 679-3090 · alliancepo.com
We're in Gainesville, Braselton, and Mulberry.
